President Alberto Fernández left this Tuesday night for Moscow, to begin a one-week tour of the Russian Federation, China and Barbados, which includes meetings with his peers Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping and with the Prime Minister of the Caribbean country, Mia Mottleyofficial sources reported.
Fernández began the trip at 10:30 p.m. from the Ezeiza International Airport to Moscow on an Aerolineas Argentinas flight.
The president travels accompanied by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero; the governor of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras; the governors of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, and of Catamarca, Raúl Jalil; the spokeswoman for the Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti; the Secretary of Sports, Inés Arrondo; senator Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, deputy Eduardo Valdés, presidential adviser Cecilia Nicolini, and the mayor of José C. Paz, Mario Ishii.
In addition, the entourage to Russia will be made up of the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, added the information provided tonight by the Casa Rosada.
all activity
“The first official activity of the trip will be a private meeting followed by a working lunch with Putin in the Kremlin on Thursday at 7 in Argentina. On Friday Fernández will attend the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, while the Sunday he will hold a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping,” was explained.
The tour will end on Tuesday, February 8, in Barbados, where Fernández will meet with the prime minister and with representatives of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
After the meeting with Putin, both leaders will make a joint statement to the press, as scheduled.
The Russian Federation made an early agreement with Argentina to provide Sputnik V vaccines, with which the country began applying them in December 2020.
After the meeting between the heads of state, Fernández will leave for Beijing at 6:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. in Argentina), where he travels at the special invitation of Xi Jinping to attend the opening of the Winter Olympics.
On Friday, the President will participate at 3:00 p.m. (4 in Argentina), virtually, in the ceremony in which he will be awarded the title of Honorary Professor of Tsinghua University.
Then, at 7:30 in Argentina, will visit the Museum of the Chinese Communist Party, where he will deliver a floral offering, take a guided tour and sign the book of distinguished visitors.
Then, at 9 Argentine time and together with the ambassador to China, Sabino Vaca Narvaja, the President will witness the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics that will take place in the National Stadium in Beijing, known as El Nido.
Both countries signed a comprehensive Strategic Association Treaty in 2014, and China has investments in infrastructure and other areas in several provinces of Argentina.
On Saturday, at 10:30 p.m. in Argentina, Fernández will visit the Palace Museum, located in the so-called Forbidden City, a complex of almost a thousand buildings built at the beginning of the 15th century and which until the beginning of the 20th century was the political center of China and the residence of the emperors..
Then, according to the agenda, just 1,500 meters from there, in Tiananmen Square, he will lay a wreath at Mao Zedong’s mausoleum.
Later, at 1.15 on Sunday in Argentina, the President will be received in the Great Hall of the Peoplewhere a lunch will be offered in honor of the heads of state who attend the opening of the Olympic Games, and at 8:15 he will meet with the Argentine Olympic delegation.
The meeting between Fernández and Xi Jinping will take place on Sunday, at 0:40 in Argentina (11:40 in China), in the Great Hall of the People.
The official activity in the Asian country will end that same day with visits to the Huawei Technology Center and the Great Wall of Mutianyu -a little more than 70 kilometers from Beijing-, before taking a flight that will take the head of state and his entourage to Bridgetown, Barbados, in the Lesser Antilles, in the Caribbean Sea.
The meeting with Prime Minister Mia Mottley will take place on Tuesday, at 8 in Argentina, and will be followed by a meeting with representatives of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
The Caribbean island, after centuries of British influence – including more than 200 years of slavery, until 1834 – achieved definitive independence in 1966 and, finally, on November 30 of last year, became an independent parliamentary republic.
