MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Expectation with Mrs. Kirchner first UN assembly speech

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is scheduled to attend on Tuesday the official opening and later address the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations.

The first three speakers will be Brazilian President Lula Da Silva, US George Bush, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Mrs. Kirchner, tenth on the list of speakers, according to reports from Buenos Aires most probably will make reference to the arrest warrants against several Iranian citizens suspected of involvement in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed and hundreds wounded in 1994. However there is expectation as to what she might say about the current world financial crisis and the Wall Street "de-intoxication" process, since several of the banks and risk rating agencies, some of them disappeared or absorbed, have lately been specially critical of Argentina and Mrs. Kirchner policies. In the last two weeks in several official ceremonies and political rallies she has ironically referred to the Wall Street "bubble crumbling" and gone as far as suggest that in the middle of global chaos, Argentina is an "island of stability". During her stay in New York, the Argentine president is expected to meet with other leaders to discuss the Argentine government's proposal to cancel the debt with the Paris Club in full ? the measure has created controversy both among opposition parties in Argentina and in the Paris Club's top echelons, as the debt's total amount has not been agreed upon. One of the main objectives of Fernández de Kirchner's trip to the US is, precisely, to make further progress with Argentina's proposal to the Paris Club. In this regard, she is expected to hold bilateral meetings with Spain's José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, Austria's Heinz Fischer, and the Netherlands' Jan Peter Balkenende. Mrs. Kirchner is also scheduled to meet with US businessmen in a bid to attract foreign investment to Argentina. Precisely Monday's agenda should have began with a meeting with Luis Alberto Moreno, head of the Inter-American Development Bank but which was canelled at last moment; lunch at the Council of Foreign Affairs, where she will set out her vision of the current situation in Argentina and Latin America. Addressing the Council will also be Ambassador Timmerman, who on Sunday remarked "the Council on Foreign Relations' interest in Fernández de Kirchner's visit". Mrs. Kirchner's official activities for the day will be rounded off by a visit to the NASDAQ stock exchange, meeting with representatives from 20 high-tech companies which have expressed interest in either investing in Argentina or expanding their investments. On Wednesday the centrepiece of the Argentine leader's activities will be a luncheon with other Latin American presidents under the auspices of the UNASUR regional grouping, presided over by Chile's Michelle Bachelet. This will be followed by a seminar at Columbia University focusing of the future of Latin American children. Mrs. Kirchner's main engagements on Thursday will be a meeting related to the UN millennium development goals, and luncheon at the Americas Society-Council of the Americas. This is regarded as a key opportunity to present Argentina under a positive light to potential investors. On Friday, the last day of her visit, Fernández de Kirchner is scheduled to meet with World Bank vice-president Pamela Cox. After that, the president will be the guest of honour at a luncheon of the World Jewish Congress. She is expected back in Buenos Aires on Friday night. No meetings with top US officials have been announced. Mrs. Kirchner arrives at a special moment since Argentina and the United States are currently entangled in a diplomatic war of sorts. Indeed, the relation between the two nations is rather sombre due to the ongoing "Suitcasegate" trial in Miami. The "Suitcasegate" has tainted the government of Mrs. Kirchner since a briefcase containing 800,000 US dollars cash was seized at Ezeiza airport in August last year. The money, brought into Argentina from Caracas by US-Venezuelan citizen Antonini Wilson, was, according to what has been aired so far in the Miami court case, earmarked to fund Mrs. Kirchner's presidential campaign. Apparently there were desperate attempts coordinated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Argentine officials to organize a cover up for the whole operation. However the situation was further complicated when Venezuelan agents tried in Miami to convince Antonini Wilson to return to Argentina, --where he was promised the case would be shelved once the October elections were over--, and where arrested by US federal authorities. Antonini Wilson fearing for his life and family had become by then a witness for the FBI. The Argentine president is in New York with her husband, former president Néstor Kirchner, as well as Economy minister Carlos Fernández, Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana, legal and technical secretary to the presidency Carlos Zanini, presidential spokesman Miguel Núñez, Chaco province governor Jorge Capitanich, San Juan province governor José Luis Gioja, Buenos Aires province vice-governor Alberto Balestrini, and national science and technology minister Luis Barañao, according to the official list.