MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuadorian President lands in BA for River Plate tour

LLasso was welcomed by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero

Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso landed in Buenos Aires Sunday for his first official visit to the River Plate. He plans to meet Presidents Alberto Fernández of Argentina Monday and Luis Lacalle Pou of Uruguay Tuesday.

Lasso was welcomed by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, who announced that ”tomorrow (Monday) we will be developing a very important agenda to strengthen bilateral ties. The meeting that will take place at Casa Rosada with President Alberto Fernández ... will have a broad economic, political and cultural agenda.”

Lasso's entourage included Ministers Juan Carlos Holguín (Foreign Affairs), Julio José Prado (Foreign Trade), and Vianna Maino (Telecommunications).

Cafiero and his counterpart Holguín hold a bilateral meeting and sign an Agreement on Consular Matters, it was announced.

After Casa Rosada, the Ecuadorian head of state will visit the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat and then he will chair a meeting with businessmen with interests in his country, as part of the “Ecuador Open for Business” program.

In Uruguay, according to the official agenda, there is no specific meeting with investors. However, in addition to addressing commercial advances with the Uruguayan President, he will meet with the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi) to “promote international relations at all levels.”

Lasso is reportedly seeking buyers for his country's current banana surplus while trying to place products such as packaged fish, shrimp, and broccoli.

The Conservative Lasso's last appointment on his two-day agenda is a meeting with Lacalle Pou in Montevideo Tuesday afternoon.

The meeting is expected to address various issues, such as promoting the exchange of experiences in risk management, natural disasters, the fight against child malnutrition, the promotion of MSMEs, transparency, and the fight against corruption, as well as trade and bilateral cooperation issues.