MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Macron adding Buenos Aires and Santiago to G20 South American tour

Macron is launching a new phase in France's ties with South America

French President Emmanuel Macron will be making state visits to Argentina and Chile as part of his South American tour to attend the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it was confirmed in diplomatic circles. Macron will first get together with his Argentine colleague Javier Milei to discuss climate change and other bilateral issues between Nov. 16 and 17. Then, he will head for Brazil's gathering of world leaders on Nov. 18 and 19. And then he will travel to Santiago for talks with Gabriel Boric Font.

 Macron's trip is expected to launch a new phase in France's relationship with Latin America, the Elysee said Tuesday. Besides his Brazilian tour earlier this year, Chile and Argentina will mark Macron's first two official visits to any South American country for one-on-one discussions since taking office for the first time in 2017 before being reelected in 2022. Macron was in Buenos Aires in 2018 for the G20 Summit held in the Argentine capital back then.

According to French Government sources, Macron will seek to “deepen cooperation in strategic sectors within a historic partnership” between France and Argentina while “pursuing the demanding dialogue on the major global challenges, especially on climate, on the eve of the G20 summit.”

After returning from the United States, Milei's diplomatic agenda features meetings with Macron and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni in Buenos Aires, as well as the G20 Summit.

Ties between Argentina and France are not going through their best times after Vice President Victoria Villarruel underscored the European country's colonialist past. Argentine football fans had been criticized for the alleged racist content of a chant regarding France's national team, made up of a wide majority of players of African ethnicity. Villarruel's posting on social media led Presidential Secretary (and sister) Karina Milei to go to the French Embassy in Buenos Aires to apologize.

Sunday's meeting at Casa Rosada will be the second encounter between Milei and Macron after the one on July 26 at the Elysee Palace during the Paris Olympic Games.

Regarding Macron's trip to Chile to “closely coordinate the development of a relationship that will pay particular attention to the energy transition, artificial intelligence, and cultural and university exchanges,” the French Government also highlighted that “the two presidents share the same vision on the importance of multilateralism, especially in the protection of the oceans and biodiversity.”