MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama rings Cristina and invites himself to visit Argentina

Pte. C. Fernadez and elected Pte. D. Obama

Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner who is currently on a North African tour, held a telephone conversation with US President-elect Barack Obama, during which he expressed his desire to meet her in person and visit Argentina.

The Tuesday conversation took place while Mrs. Kirchner was waiting to meet her Tunisian counterpart Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in the Carthage Presidential Palace. During the conversation Mrs. Kirchner personally invited president elect Obama to Argentina. She added that she believed that they will meet "very soon after he takes office," on January 20. The president remarked that he was "very warm, very hopeful of meeting me personally so that we can talk, and he said that he knew that I had faced difficulties courageously." She described the call as "a great honour, not for me, for Argentina, the country I represent. I am very pleased. "I also informed president Obama that there was great hope not only in Latin American peoples; I have spoken to different heads of state in Magreb and they are all very hopeful and excited about the era which will begin on January 20." During the 10-minute talk, Obama showed interest in the idea of a bilateral relationship between the two countries. "I would like to emphasize the strength with which you and your country have overcome difficult situations," Obama said to Mrs. Kirchner. According to government officials, Obama described Argentina as "a great country," and revealed that, while at university, he "read Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar." "I am very hopeful of visiting Argentina and speaking with you," said Obama. "I thank you for your letter of greeting, but still I am hoping that we can have personal contact," he added. Following the elections on November 4, Cristina Kirchner congratulated Obama by means of a letter. In that document, the President said that the "era that is opening" in the United States "is a major landmark in one of history's most emotional epics... the fight against discrimination and for equality of opportunities." Fernández de Kirchner also alluded to the struggle of Martin Luther King and his "dream" that his four children would be able to live in a nation where they were not "judged by the colour of their skin." She also compared the US civil rights movement with the "young people who began their rebelliousness in our country." Obama's call to Mrs. de Kirchner was the third he has made to a South American leader. He spoke to Brazilian president Lula da Silva for 15 minutes last week to discuss the bilateral relationship and praise him for his handling of the global financial crisis. On Tuesday also Obama had a ten minute conversation with Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, who also congratulated him and invited him to visit the country.