President Alberto Fernández undertakes this Tuesday night his trip to Russia and then to China, countries in which will meet with his peers Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, with the purpose of deepening bilateral relations. Meanwhile, official sources confirmed that Economy Minister Martín Guzmán will be part of the official delegation that will visit Moscow.
The presidential journey includes, as a final destination, the Caribbean island of Barbados, which last year became independent from the United Kingdom and whose Prime Minister Mia Mottley gave her support to Argentina to reach the presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States a few days ago. (Celac), which is now in charge of Alberto Fernández.
Due to the restrictions due to the coronavirus, the President will lead a reduced delegation that is made up of the Foreign Minister santiago cafiero; the Minister of Economy, Martin Guzman (only at the first stage, in Russia); the Minister Spokesperson for the Presidency, Gabriela Ceruti; and the governors of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillo; from Catamarca, Raul Jalil; and Rio Negro, Arabela Carreras.
Kicillof was in doubt for having contracted coronavirus, but from the governor’s office they informed Télam that he will be part of the delegation.
The deputy is also expected to travel Eduardo Valdes and the senator Adolfo Rodriguez Saa -presidents of the Foreign Relations commissions of both legislative chambers-; and the deputy minister of the Foreign Ministry, Cecilia Todeca. Likewise, the presidential adviser Cecilia Nicolini; the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julius Vitobelloand the secretary of Sports and president of the National Entity for High Performance Sports (Enard), Ines Arrondo; and the mayor of José C. Paz, mario ishii.
Russia
According to the presidential agenda, the entourage will depart at 10 p.m. from Buenos Aires, and The first activity is scheduled for Thursday in Moscow, where Fernández will meet and have lunch with Putin at noonand the signing of several agreements is also scheduled.
One of the axes of that meeting, scheduled for last year and later postponed due to the restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be the gratitude to Putin for having secured batches of the Sputnik V vaccine for its incorporation into the National Campaign for Vaccination against the coronavirus, which Argentina began in December 2020.
“Argentina was the first country in Latin America to approve Sputnik V and the second in the world”Fernandez said last June, in a contact between the two leaders by videoconference, announcing the start of the production of the Russian vaccine in the national territory.
“Russia -said Fernández- is a country that has been able to develop research, science and technology and we always had confidence in that capacity for the development of such an important vaccine that the world was waiting so long for”.
According to the agenda of the Casa Rosada, a press conference is scheduled after lunch in the format of a question from an Argentine and a Russian media outlet.
China
That same night, the President will travel to China, a country with which Argentina has a Comprehensive Strategic Association Treaty, which includes cooperation and investment agreements in economic, commercial, financial, nuclear and cultural matters. They were signed by Xi Jinping and then President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in 2014, in Buenos Aires.
In Beijing, Fernández will attend the delivery of the Honoris Causa Distinction from Tsinhua University on Fridaywill visit the Museum of the History of the local Communist Party and will participate in the opening of the Winter Olympics in the imposing El Nido stadium.
On Saturday, the president has scheduled a visit to the Forbidden City and the Mao Zedong Mausoleum in Beijing.and a lunch with Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, as well as at the Zhangjiakou Olympic Village Campus to meet with the official delegation of Argentine athletes.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the last day in China, the bilateral meeting of both presidents is scheduled at the Great Hall of the People and, later, a visit to the Great Wall.
Barbados
From Beijing, Fernández will travel just over 14,000 kilometers by air to Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, where on Monday he will meet with the prime minister, Mia Mottleywith whom he will centrally address the issue of the climate crisis and the decolonization process on the island, within the framework of the 40th anniversary of the Malvinas War, which is commemorated this year in Argentina.
Barbados, located in the Lesser Antilles, was a former British colony but became an independent parliamentary republic on November 30 last year.
Mottley was unanimously re-elected in September 2021 and took over her new term a few days ago. On January 7, at the meeting in which Argentina was elected to chair CELAC, Fernández had promised to visit the island to help put the climate crisis that determines the increase in ocean flow on the agenda.
For this reason, in addition to the bilateral one with Mottley, Fernández will meet with representatives related to this issue, according to what was reported to Télam by government spokesmen.
The “Malvinas Question” -as the Argentine claim of sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, usurped by the United Kingdom in 1833, is called in diplomacy- will fly over the tour of Russia and China, since both countries support Argentina in its petition to the United Nations.
The CELAC -which integrates Barbados- was also forceful on several occasions on the “Malvinas Question” by expressing its “firmest support for the legitimate rights of Argentina in the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime spaces”.
