President Albert Fernandez returned from the Summit of the Americas after having strengthened his relationship with his counterpart from the United States Joe Biden, with whom he will meet again face to face next month in Washington, despite the severe questions he raised in his speech before the leaders of the region in his capacity as holder pro tempore the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
And it was in the context of this meeting held in Los Angeles, California, where the Argentine head of state extended an invitation to the US president to attend the CELAC summit to be held in December in Buenos Aires.
Delivering his speech at the Summit of the AmericasFernández produced with his words two moments of great repercussion.
First when you Biden questioned the exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela of the regional conclave by express decision of the United States, and then by requesting the resignation of the Uruguayan Luis Almagro as secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), due to the support he gave to the coup that overthrew Evo Morales in Bolivia, in November 2019.
About the first point the Argentine ambassador to the United States, Jorge Argüell, explainedor, before the journalists accredited in the Summit.
“We believe that all the countries of the region should participate in the Summit of the Americas. Given this, the President had two options: choose to say what he thought, or remain silent. He chose to speak and it seems to me that he made a great contribution to the dialogue between the United States and the other countries in the region,” Argüello analyzed in statements to Radio 10.
About Almagro, the ambassador considered “Argentina has a very critical view of the current conduct of the OAS”.
“The President has expressed himself on this issue at the Summit, but that does not mean that the United States is working on that hypothesis” of producing a change in the organization, the diplomat clarified.
In this sense, a senior member of the national delegation told Télam, in the lobby of the Marriot hotel in Los Angeles -attached to the Ritz- where the Argentine delegation stayed, that “the OAS must be reorganized, beyond the request for resignation of Almagro.
This source admitted that although it is “difficult” for the current secretary general of the OAS to leave immediately, he assured that “the position of the countries that consider that the organization has” a malfunction “is almost unanimous.”
Fernández’s next trip will be between the 26th and 28th of this month, when it will be present at the extended G7 meeting to be held at the end of the month at Elmau Castle, in the Bavarian Alps, in southern Germany.
That meeting “is an opportunity to set a goal and create an environment to end the war in Ukraine,” said the Argentine president at the third plenary meeting of the Summit of the Americas.
The G7 is a forum made up of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Canada and the United States, and includes the participation of the European Union.
For the edition of the summit to be held this year in Germany, Argentina, Indonesia, India, South Africa and Senegal were invited.
Argentina holds the pro tempore presidency of CELAC; Indonesia currently holds the Presidency of the G20; India has a close association with Germany which was reflected in a recent visit by Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi to Berlin; Senegal chairs the African Union and South Africa, the most developed country on that continent, is a member of the G20.
This position of ending the war was raised by Fernández to the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Portuguese António Guterres, at this Summit of the Americas, and he also described the consequences that the conflict in Eastern Europe generates on a global scale. in terms of energy and food.
“Without humiliation or desire for domination. Without dehumanized geopolitics or privileges of violence,” remarked the head of state in his speech at the Summit in the paragraph dedicated to the events taking place in Ukraine.
At the Los Angeles Summit, the Argentine head of state also took the opportunity to hold various meetings, most of them related to investments.
With the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, they discussed the potential of the economic and commercial link between the two countries.
The leaders agreed to move forward on a common agenda, particularly in the energy and agri-food sectors.
Fernandez and Trudeau also shared an interest in joint investments for the production of fertilizers, an issue on which the Profertil company is working, whose main shareholders are YPF and the Canadian Nutrien.
The Argentine president agreed with the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, investments for gas and renewable energy, and together they announced a daily supply of 300,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day to the Bio Bio region, in the trans-Andean country.
With the governor of California, the Democrat Gavin Newsom, Fernández analyzed the common agenda between Latin America and the United States.
At that meeting, an agenda of gender equality and expansion of rights, and the climate issue was addressed, and Fernández invited him to visit Argentina.
Meanwhile, with the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, he held an informal dialogue for energy integration.
For his part, the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, announced to the Argentine President an investment commitment of the company of 1,200 million dollars to promote digital transformation in Latin America.
Meanwhile, the head of General Motors International, Shilpan Amin, informed him in July of the start of production of the new Chevrolet Tracker at his Alvear automotive complex, in the province of Santa Fe, which required an investment of 350 million Dollars.
