Bilateral meeting between Alberto Fernández and Joe Biden set for September

Argentina’s Ambassador to Washington Jorge Argüello has confirmed the rescheduled bilateral meeting between President Alberto Fernández and his US counterpart Joe Biden will take place at the White House in September.

The exact date will be set in the coming days, he added.

Both nations’ diplomatic teams  are still working on a coordination of agendas for the meeting, which was originally due to be held on July 26 but was postponed after Biden tested positive for Covid-19.

During a presentation at a Council of the Americas summit held at the Alvear Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argüello said that President Fernández will also attend the UN General Assembly on September 20 in New York. A stop in Houston is also planned, with the Peronist leader seeking to boost US investment. 

The ambassador, addressing Argentina's economic situation, assured attendees that Fernández’s government will be able to "overcome this problem we have with inflation and the value of the currency,” highlighting the arrival of Sergio Massa as economy minister.

Argüello also called for greater investments in gas and large scale infrastructure projects,  such as the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline running from the Vaca Muerta shale formation, and proposed an increase of Argentine imports into the United States.

"We have the same instructions from our presidents and we work comfortably," said the envoy, looking at his US counterpart in Buenos Aires, Ambassador Marc Stanley.

"Today, 0.2 percent of total US imports come from Argentina. We have in the United States, the oldest investor in Argentina, 300 companies work here. This tradition of investment clashes with another element, that the US is our third-largest trading partner. We have to multiply the number, we cannot be [just] 0.2 percent of imports."

Stanley, speaking on the same panel event, highlighted opportunities for US firms in areas including “infrastructure, food, energy and lithium.”

Calling on the nation’s political class to "form a coalition now” to stabilise Argentina’s economy” and “not wait for the 2023 election," the US ambassador said that Washington sought to deepen its relationship with Argentina and help the country become “a leader in Latin America.”

– TIMES/NA