Economy Minister
Sergio Massa will join Alberto Fernández's entourage in the United States and will also go to the White House
to meet President Joe Biden next Wednesday.
The summit between Biden and Fernández has suffered several postponements, but
it would finally take place on March 29
, according to government sources announced in Buenos Aires, while
waiting for prompt confirmation from the White House,
possibly this Saturday.
Fernández does not go directly to Washington.
He will arrive this Sunday in New York, coming from the Dominican Republic, where he is participating in the Ibero-American Summit together with Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero and there he will have some activities not yet confirmed, but it would include a meeting with businessmen and personalities linked to our country at the Council of
the Americas,
the institution led by Susan Segal.
As
Clarín
learned and corroborated with Economy sources,
Minister Massa will join the delegation on Tuesday in Manhattan.
He will then travel with the president to Washington to go to the White House on Wednesday for the meeting with President Biden, which is estimated to be in the afternoon.
Massa's participation in this meeting is read as
a gesture by the head of La Rosada with his minister,
after it was revealed that there was a tense meeting between the Tigrense and Fernández in which Massa reproached him for receiving poisoned darts from the presidential environment. while such action was denied.
Thus, Massa will have the photo of him with Biden at the center of world power, something that of course excites the fidgety official.
But beyond Fernández's gesture,
Massa is a person who arouses interest in Washington
because he is seen as a pragmatist in the midst of a government that has constant ideological tugs.
The Biden government does not want Argentina's economy to explode, it wants the October elections to be reached calmly and for now they see Massa as someone with more power to make the reforms they believe necessary.
Of course, it is not estimated that Massa is going to sit in the Oval Room, a space generally destined for the photo between the presidents and sometimes with the first ladies.
The tradition is that after that snapshot and that the leaders have a meeting alone, then go to another room for an extended meeting with the teams of both countries, where Cafiero, Massa, Ambassador Jorge Argüello and perhaps some other official would join. .
There could also participate
Janet Yellen
, the Treasury secretary, who is a key player in any negotiation with the International Monetary Fund, or a senior official from that US portfolio.
It is a delicate moment in the negotiations with the agency
due to the immense losses as a result of the drought and the difficulties in meeting the goals.
In fact, this week the Fund's executive board will be analyzing whether to give the green light to the fourth revision of the Argentine program, where the reserve goal was made more flexible by US$2,000 million.
If approved, it will release a transfer of 5,300 million.
But the drought situation and other economic variables are worsening and the Government
may need even more flexibility
in the future from the Fund.
The United States, the member country that contributes the most to the organization, is essential when it comes to any movement.
Massa is also preparing other lines of conversation such as
mining (especially lithium), energy (investments in Vaca Muerta), drought and food security,
topics of common interest with the Biden government.
This summit is highly desired by Fernández,
who gave instructions to Ambassador Argüello to achieve it from minute zero of his mandate.
He always sought to establish himself as a regional interlocutor, someone who can speak with all the presidents of different ideological trends.
But the management was complicated when the bilateral relationship became tense when the Argentine toured Russia and China and said that Argentina would be Moscow's gateway to the region.
However, after ironing out differences, the meeting was scheduled for July of last year.
But days before it took place, Biden caught Covid and the summit was postponed twice due to that issue.
Then came the US elections. in November and Fernández's loss of power seemed to put the appointment on hold, although now everything indicates that it will finally take place.
