MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchners face busy New York agenda

President Néstor Kirchner and his wife (and would-be successor) Cristina Fernández arrive in New York today to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Apart from addressing the world gathering, Kirchner and his wife are expected to meet with former US president Bill Clinton and with US investors interested in Argentina. Senator Fernández de Kirchner will be looking to push her presidential ambitions with the international crowd gathered there. The Kirchners are accompanied on this trip by Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández, Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana and the ministers of Education and Federal Planning, Daniel Filmus and Julio de Vido respectively, who both have agendas of their own in New York. Climate change is the official theme of the assembly and the President is expected to speak on the subject on Monday, although the headlines have mainly been focusing on tensions in the Middle East. Meanwhile Mrs Kirchner is scheduled to engage in an open debate with the Spanish judge Baltazar Garzón, organized by Argentine human rights specialist Juan Méndez at New York University. Tuesday is the day of Kirchner's address to the General Assembly, which is scheduled for 4pm local time and is expected to focus on requests to Iran to deliver suspects of the 1994 AMIA bombing. The next day Mrs Kirchner will lunch with US business executives, members of the Council for the Americas, in an effort to convince investors of the continuity of the current economic growth and stability and allay worries about inflation. On Wednesday the pair will meet former president Bill Clinton, also the host of Thursday's Global Initiative meeting, where Kirchner will take part in a panel discussion on "Latin America and the pressures of globalization." Buenos Aires Herald