MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine President ready to start official agenda in Rome

Fernández will hold meetings with most world leaders but neither with Biden nor with Pope Francis

Argentina President Alberto Fernández landed Friday in Rome for the G20 Summit. But while at the Italian capital he will also have other engagements, such as a meeting with International Monetary Fund chief executive Kristalina Georgieva to further discuss repayment of the country's US $ 44 billion debt.

Fernández is to officially launch his Rome agenda Saturday with the Georgieva meeting, but he is also due to hold other encounters with leaders of Germany, Spain, and the European Union.

On Sunday he is to meet the Argentine-born Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, World Health Organization (WHO) Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

He will not, however, meet fellow Argentine Pope Francis this time around.

Fernández's entourage was formed by First Lady Fabiola Yáñez, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, Agriculture Minister Julián Domínguez; Environment Minister Juan Cabandié, and the Argentine ambassador to the United States, Jorge Argüello. Economy Minister Martín Guzmán was already waiting for him on Italian soil.

Guzmán has already met with Georgieva and Máxima, in addition to other finance ministers attending the event.

Fernández hopes the G20 Summit end up in a declaration in favour of cutting down the so-called “surcharges” charged to countries that received an amount greater than the quota they contribute to the Monetary Fund, as is the case of Argentina. The Argentine government is said to be seeking a reduction in surcharges from 3% to 1%, which would mean an annual saving of US $ 900 million.

The Argentine President also hopes to return to Buenos Aires with a document signed by the main world leaders recommending the third line of credit with terms longer than the current ones. It would be a “resilience fund” that would function as the key for Argentina to extend the terms of disbursements beyond the ten years currently allowed and which are suffocating Argentina's economy after unleashed borrowing on the part of former President Mauricio Macri. The Argentine delegation was confident an agreement would be reached by the end of the year.

The Argentine President was very much interested in a one-on-one meeting with US President Joseph Biden, but diplomatic sources believed it was unlikely while in Rome. It was not ruled out for Glasgow though.