
In what was his last international activity, outgoing president Mauricio Macri attended the 55th Mercosur leaders summit in Bento Goncalves, southern Brazil, which he described as a special diplomatic occasion for his administration's strive to put Argentina back in the wide world map.

Brazil on Thursday handed over the six-month rotating presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc (Southern Common Market) to Paraguay. During a ceremony at the bloc's 55th summit in Bento Goncalves, Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro expressed confidence in his Paraguayan counterpart Mario Abdo Benitez and his leadership skills.

Argentine president elect Alberto Fernandez confirmed Felipe Solá as his foreign minister and Daniel Scioli as ambassador in Brazil, following a meeting with a delegation of Brazilian lawmakers at his Buenos Aires headquarters. The Brazilian delegation was headed by the Lower House president, Rodrigo Maia.

A third of Argentine homes and 40.8% of people were below the poverty line at the end of the third quarter according to the Social Debt Observatory from the Argentine Catholic University, UCA, which regularly releases the data.

The recently sworn-in Argentine Lower House of Congress expects to sanction the Budget 2020 Bill during a special session next 18 December, giving the government of president-elect Alberto Fernandez sufficient margin to address the current situation and put Argentina back on track with an idea of revenue and commitments.

The South American four-nation trade bloc Mercosur began a tense meeting on Wednesday reeling from US steel and aluminium tariffs and a spat between its two biggest members. Foreign ministers of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay opened the two-day meeting in the southern Brazilian town of Bento Goncalves, paving the way for a head of state summit on Thursday.

Argentina's incoming cabinet has already been chosen and will be revealed on Friday, President-elect Alberto Fernandez said, while his team confirmed a few major picks, including the incoming foreign minister, chief of staff and some names from the economic team.

Argentina central bank chief Guido Sandleris resigned on Wednesday, an expected step as Latin America’s third-largest economy transitions to Peronism next week under newly elected President Alberto Fernandez.

Mercosur faces a tense future, the president-elect of Uruguay said on Monday, referring to a diplomatic spat between regional heavyweight economies Brazil and Argentina. Brazil’s right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro and Argentina’s incoming leader, left-leaning Peronist Alberto Fernandez, have sparred openly.

Argentina's ex-president Cristina Kirchner arrived in court on Monday to give evidence in a corruption trial in which she is charged with diverting public funds, just a week before she returns to the country's government as vice president.