Javier Milei set off on a 10-day international tour on Thursday, the longest of his Presidency, with stops scheduled in Italy, France, Spain and Israel.
The trip includes a private dinner with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the United Nations Ocean Summit and an audience with the new leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV.
Milei, 54, will also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the nation’s President Isaac Herzog and the relatives of former hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The President departed at 10am on a special flight to Rome. His first scheduled activity in the Italian capital was due Friday afternoon. Milei will attend the signing of a memorandum of understanding on natural gas between YPF and Italian energy company ENI. Later that evening, he will share a private dinner with Meloni at Palazzo Chigi.
On Saturday, June 7, Milei will have his first face-to-face meeting with Pope Leo XIV, the successor of late Argentine pontiff Pope Francis. He will then fly to Madrid, where he will speak the following day at the closing of the Madrid Economic Forum.
Nice, France, is the next stop for Argentina’s self-described “anarcho-capitalist” head of state. On Monday, June 9, Milei has a date in the diary with French President Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference.
Afterwards, Milei will depart for Tel Aviv in Israel, where he will spend the longest section of his international tour.
On Tuesday, June 10, Milei has a morning meeting scheduled with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, followed by a joint press conference. Facetime with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will follow, along with an expanded session involving officials from both nations.
Remaining faithful to a tradition he has installed for his visits to the Middle Eastern state, Milei will then visit the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. On his last visit, Argentina’s President broke down in tears at the revered site, sharing an emotional moment with Israelis.
On the Wednesday, Milei is due to participate in the unveiling of a commemorative plaque at the City of David, followed by a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Later that afternoon, he will meet with relatives of Argentine-Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.
In the key moment of this leg of his trip, Milei is also scheduled to address the Knesset, the national parliament and receive the Genesis Prize, an honour dubbed the “Jewish Nobel Prize,” for his support of Israel. He will be the first non-Jewish recipient of the award.
On Thursday, June 12, Milei is scheduled to speak at an Israeli university (location and time yet to be confirmed). Argentina’s leader will later sign a memorandum of understanding on democracy and freedom with his Israeli counterparts – this will be presented as the Casa Rosada as a direct repudiation of the infamous Iran pact agreed by former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Milei will participate in the announcement of a new direct Buenos Aires-Tel Aviv route for flights and return to the Wailing Wall with Netanyahu.
The head of state will then fly to Madrid, arriving Thursday evening. The following day, he will receive an honorary award from the School of Salamanca.
The final stop of the tour will be a meeting with major business leaders at Argentina’s Embassy on Saturday, June 14. That evening, he will board a return flight to Buenos Aires.
Milei will be accompanied on his trip by Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei. Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein, Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello and Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni will join the delegation for the leg in Italy at least, with their attendance on the rest of the trip yet to be confirmed. PRO national deputy Fernando Iglesias will also be joining the President in Rome.
– TIMES/PERFIL
Comments