Despite not being the focal point of the day, former Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner stole the spotlight during Javier Milei's inauguration as the new President of Argentina, with a series of gestures that drew attention. Among them was a particularly unusual move as she entered the National Congress at noon.
Among the foreign leaders to attend Javier Milei's inauguration in Buenos Aires, there were two who stood out from the rest. Topping the list was Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is highly dependent on assistance from abroad to fight off Russia's invasion, and the other was Jair Bolsonaro, who despite no longer being President of Brazil, was given a preferential treatment by Argentina's incoming government.
Argentina's new President Javier Milei Sunday signed his first urgency decree cutting down the number of ministries from 21 to 9, it was reported in Buenos Aires. The Libertarian leader had insisted throughout his campaign that there were going to be 8 such agencies in addition to the Office of the Cabinet Chief -which is created by the Constitution- but changed his mind to keep Health a separate issue from Human Capital as previously announced.
Argentina's new Foreign Minister Diana Mondino confirmed that her country would resume the process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which had been initiated under President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) but was dropped during the Alberto Fernández years (2019-2023).
It's a great day for Javier Milei, the libertarian who in just two years from scratch managed to defeat the main dominant political forces in Argentina and will become this Sunday the country's elected president.
The city-state of Singapore and a leading business and financial hub in Asia finally signed a free trade agreement with Mercosur during the South American countries summit held in Rio do Janeiro. It is Mercosur's first deal with a Southeast Asian nation.
Argentina's future government of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) is entertaining the possibility of appointing retired Colonel Daniel Esteban, a Malvinas War Veteran, as Deputy Defense Minister as of Dec. 10, according to Buenos Aires daily Clarín. Esteban would serve under former Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) Vice Presidential candidate Luis Petri, who has been picked to head the Ministry following the now-defunct alliance's support to Javier Milei against Sergio Massa at the Nov. 19 runoff.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Communications Director Julie Kozack Thursday insisted during a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Washington that Argentina must have a strong and credible Central Bank to reduce inflation under future President Javier Milei. In Kozack's view, high prices are one of the most important imbalances the country needs to tackle.
In a column published this week in Buenos Aires daily Clarín, Gustavo Melella, Governor of the Argentine Province of Tierra del Fuego which technically includes the South Atlantic Islands over which the South American country claims sovereignty, stressed that the future Libertarian administration of Javier Milei should not enact a U-turn in the state policies on that particular matter.
Newly-elected Congressman Martín Menem of La Rioja of President-elect Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza has been appointed as the new Speaker of Argentina's Lower House to succeed Cecilia Moreau, the first woman ever to serve on the post.