Contentious politics and a lack of political stability are the main factors weighing on the outlook for Argentina's credit ratings, Moody's Investors Services said on Thursday.
Brazil and Argentina ended Wednesday in Brasilia a full day of talks at presidential level without reaching a clear agreement on trade disputes that have caused disruptions to the bilateral relation.
Argentina’s Senate passed a bill on Wednesday with a significant majority to reopen the country's 2005 debt restructuring. The administration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner hopes it will help it settle a dispute with holders of an estimated 20 billion US dollars in defaulted bonds.
Argentina announced this week the regulation of the Fisheries Law that allows for 15 years individual transferable catch quotas (ITQs) of common hake (Merluccius hubbsi) which is to become effective in 2010. The new system is also applicable to other three species: hoki (Macruronus magellanicus), Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and southern blue whiting (Micromesistius australis).
The Argentine embassy in Bolivia officially protested, and demanded the immediate withdrawal of a National Geographic world-map circulating among the Bolivian Chamber of Customs agents and where the Malvinas Islands figure “with a colour different to that identifying Argentina”.
Argentine exporters claim they are loosing huge sums of money because of Brazilian delays at Customs posts and in extending import licences. This is particularly sensitive for fruit and other perishable exporters.
Argentina and Brazil presidents are scheduled to address trade disputes, Mercosur and other coming foreign policy issues when they meet Wednesday in Brasilia for their agreed regular contacts.
Israeli President Shimon Peres met on Monday with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Shimon arrived on Sunday in Argentina, home to Latin America's biggest Jewish community for a two-day visit.
An Argentine gay couple that was enabled by a Buenos Aires City court ruling to get married after declaring the articles of the Civic Code that prohibit it as unconstitutional, requested on Monday a wedding date, according to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transvestite Federation (LGBT).
Israeli President Shimon Peres, who will meet Monday with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, arrived Sunday night in Buenos Aires for his two-day official visit, the first of an Israeli head of state in decades.