MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner's visit and Argentina's image in the US.

The much awaited meeting between Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and US President George Bush will take place Wednesday July 23 at 14:15 hours in the White House. Although scheduled for half an hour, this first meeting could last longer since “both presidents have much in common”, remarked James Cheek a former American ambassador in Argentina currently visiting Buenos Aires.

"The substance of the meeting is really not important. It's more a question of chemistry particularly since Mr. Bush is a president who values personal contact, direct, face to face. The true results of the meeting will actually be what impression Mr. Kirchner leaves on Mr. Bush and similarly President Bush on President Kirchner", highlighted the former Ambassador, adding that "it won't actually be political because both presidents don't want a meeting that ends with differences or disagreements".

President Kirchner and a small delegation left Buenos Aires for the United States Tuesday morning and are expected back on Friday.

On leaving Oscar Parrilli, Secretary General of the Presidency said that Mr. Kirchner will be requesting president Bush?s support for Argentina's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund besides explaining his administration's plans to recover the Argentine economy and insert the country in the globalized world.

However Mr. Parrilli pointed out that the axis of President Kirchner's presentation is "Argentina and the defence of our national interests and the interests of the Argentine people and in this sense we're talking with all countries of the world", underlining that Argentina seeks "mature, serious, responsible relations with all governments".

"The President will also make clear Argentina's commitment in the fight against corruption, terrorism and the drug trade".

President Kirchner after meeting Mr. Bush will be interviewed by the Washington Post and later in the evening will leave for New York. At mid morning Mr. Kirchner has a meeting scheduled with The New York Times; at mid day with the Council of the Americas and in the afternoon will visit Ground Zero and pay homage to the victims ?including six Argentines-- of the September 11 terrorist attack against the Twin Towers.

But in spite of the optimism surrounding the visit, Argentine political analyst Patricio Lombardi has pointed out that Argentina has much image recovering to achieve in the United States.

"The latest images of Argentina in the US media are those of a president fleeing in a helicopter with dead people in Buenos Aires main square; five presidents in a week; Congress applauding a default, former president Duhalde was never invited to Washington and Argentina still has to come up with a sustainable and believable long term economic plan", said Mr. Lombardi.

Even when President Kirchner arrives with important decisions behind him such as the commitment to fight corruption and the release of the files surrounding the bombing of AMIA, the Jewish Community Centre in mid Buenos Aires, "he's accompanied by an outgoing American Ambassador, (James Walsh), and with an incoming Argentine Ambassador in the US whose credentials were presented to Secretary of State Colin Powell, not to president Bush, and who's a very close friend of the Democrats".

Mr. Lombardi underlined that United States is being ruled by the hard line of the Republican Party, "hawks, whether we like it or not, who hold very strong positions in some issues, and for example are determined to have the Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, on schedule by 2005. They are not fond of Mercosur".

Besides "there's an interest in Washington to talk directly to a president who sends different messages, some members of his administration have a good working relation with the United States, but others send messages that cause concern among private investment funds", added Mr. Lombardi.

However former Ambassador Cheek and Mr. Lombardi coincided that the dominant participation of Cuban president Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez when president Kirchner's took office last May 25 that had great coverage in the US media has been left aside, --although not forgotten--, since there has been no follow up with those leaders.

"I believe the Bush administration is more concerned in working with president Kirchner and giving him time to consolidate in office", said Mr. Cheek.