February 11 marked one year since
Cecilia Nicolini
took office as Secretary of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation, in the Ministry of Environment.
Since then she has made
more than eight trips abroad
.
She went to Chile, Sweden, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, the Republic of Korea, Egypt and Peru, with expenses of
more than 3.4 million pesos.
On several of those trips he was only as an assistant and others were not related to the position he holds in the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.
She still retains her role as advisor to
Alberto Fernández
(
ad honorem
), which allowed her to integrate some presidential delegations.
Cecilia Nicolini starred in the scandal over the letter sent to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) demanding the arrival of doses of the second component of Sputnik V against the coronavirus, in July 2021.
Alberto Fernández with Cecilia Nicolini.
At that time, she was only serving as a presidential adviser.
The controversy pushed both governments to make a joint statement to defuse the scandal.
A year ago the President signed Decree 90/2022 that appointed her as Secretary of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation of the Ministry of the Environment led by
Juan Cabandié
.
She is one of the three secretaries of the portfolio.
The second article of the Decree stated that the position of Advisor to the President held on January 20, 2020 “has an
“ad honorem”
character since he took office in Environment and Sustainable Development.
Its double function is
observed
by some members of the National Cabinet, who point out that this circumstance is not repeated with the Secretary of State of any ministry "due to the position and responsibility that it has," said an official source.
To the situation that generates tension with Minister Cabandié himself, was added an extensive list of trips abroad made by Nicolini in less than a year after taking office as Secretary of Climate Change: at the rate of one trip per month since he took
office .
In response to Clarí
's query
, the official pointed out that "the climate agenda has a very intense international agenda, where international negotiation is key to national climate policy. That is where national and international objectives are defined and, above all, opportunities are opened of financing".
On the other hand, he explained that the eight international trips
"are justified and are related to the responsibility of the role that I have."
The trips made
The official data comes from a request for access to information.
The total cost of the eight trips made amounts to
3,436,834 pesos, which includes tickets, lodging and per diem declared between April 19, 2022 and December 3 of the same year
.
About 20 thousand dollars according to the average price of Banco Nación last year.
A fact: six days ago he participated in an activity in Dubai.
"The objective: to work together with global leaders on an agenda that incorporates the perspectives and demands of Argentina and the region at # COP28," she wrote from her social networks.
The details of trips and expenses do not include those for this year: in January
he accompanied
Alberto Fernández to Brazil for the inauguration of President
Lula da Silva
and last week he was in Dubai.
According to the information that
Clarín accessed,
of the eight trips abroad, only one of them traveled the Minister of the Environment, his direct boss.
In two others, those committees had the participation of
Alberto Fernández
.
The first detailed trip is from April 2022. He went to Santiago de Chile (April 19 to 22, 2022) to participate in the First Conference of the Parties to the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, better known as the Escazú Agreement (COP1).
The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development did not participate in that event, which required an expenditure of $146,041 in airfare, plus $47,052 in travel expenses.
The next trip was the official mission to Sweden from May 28 to June 4, 2022. In this regard, Nicolini said that it was a Ministerial event on Climate Action that was held on May 30 and 31, 2022, under the denomination “A planet treated with care.
He held, as indicated, a meeting with environment ministers and representatives of Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico.
This trip was the only one he accompanied his boss, that is, Minister Juan Cabandié.
The official's expenses are made up of $700,928 in tickets, in travel expenses he consigned $112,238.65 and in lodging $315,569.54.
Alberto Fernández with Cecilia Nicolini.
Then came the
official mission
to the United States in Los Angeles, a trip led by the President of the Nation because it was the Summit of the Americas.
It was from June 7 to 11 of last year.
Her activities during that trip of Alberto Fernández representing the country, and once again, without the presence of the Minister of the Environment, were: participation as a speaker at the Global Methane event, she was a speaker at the CEO Summit for policy dialogue strategies on "The green future of the Americas" and participated in the event "Public-private collaborations for Climate Action".
As he traveled with President Fernández's entourage, he explained that no air tickets were issued.
The per diem expense was
$78,200.62
and he stated that he did not request lodging either.
The following month, from July 17 to 22, Nicolini traveled to the Dominican Republic to participate in the XI Ibero-American Conference on Environment and Climate Change and the Climate Week in Latin America and the Caribbean.
When asked what he did during those days, he specified that he participated in the conference
"making interventions in the session where the final Declaration was agreed upon
(...)".
She was also a speaker at the event "Good Practices, financing and innovation in food production systems aligned with climate objectives".
On this occasion, she reported air expenses for: $365,538.00 and per diems for $37,601.03.
In August the trips abroad continued.
The Secretary for Climate Change was part of the official mission to Colombia from August 5 to 8, 2022. When asked the reason for the trip, she specified: "Accompany the President of the Nation to the inauguration ceremony of Gustavo Petro" and added that he would also “organized an agenda of meetings with Latin American authorities to discuss issues related to climate negotiations, environmental evaluation and the Escazú Agreement.
On that occasion, he did not issue air tickets because he traveled with the presidential entourage.
His per diem amounted to $47,441.73 and accommodation for the three days, to $125,581.05.
Republic of Korea was the next air issued for the official.
It was an official mission to Incheon from September 10 to 17.
She reported that she participated in the Congress of the Green Climate Fund "with the objective of seeking financing to promote and expand climate policies in Argentina."
On this occasion, she was a speaker at the session on "How can preparation resources meet the needs of countries to advance in climate investments?"
Regarding airfare, per diem and accommodation, Nicolini reported that
everything was paid for
by the organization of the event.
The travel agenda did not include any in the month of October, but did include one in the last two months of the year.
From November 3 to 13, the Climate Change Secretary
went to Egypt
to participate in the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).
This trip demanded $1,206,852.40 in the issuance of air tickets, $231,048.02 in per diems and made it clear that the payment for accommodation was managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship.
The last trip of 2022 was to Peru from December 1 to December 3 to join the annual ordinary session of the Latin American Network of Environmental Impact Assessment Systems.
Among other activities in which she was a speaker, she participated in the "Delivery ceremony of the pro tempore presidency of REDLASEIA 2023 to Argentina".
When he had to specify the expenses, he detailed $291,314.10 in airfare and
there is still a report on travel expenses and lodging
since at the time of responding to the request for access to information, it was being processed in the administrative area.