Argentine President Cristina Fernández is on a three-day visit to Angola to promote trade and investments particularly exchanging food for the African country’s oil. Friday morning she is scheduled to meet her counterpart Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.
For the first time, Argentina has a Jewish president, at least temporarily. Beatriz Rojkes, the provisional president of the Argentine Senate, is in charge of the government for several days because both President Christina Fernandez and Vice-President Amado Boudou are overseas.
Argentine state-controlled energy company YPF said it risks having its American Depositary Shares (ADS) de-listed by the New York Stock Exchange since it is not complying with all regulatory requirements.
Tens of leading Argentine journalists gathered in Buenos Aires in a television program where each of them was invited to make public what question they would like to ask President Cristina Fernandez in obvious reference to the difficulties to have access to the Argentine head of state and her very limited contact with the press.
Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota praised the “great political convergence” between Argentina and Brazil and assured that any existing problems related to the bilateral trade “do not tarnish this very strong reality.”
Argentine President Cristina Fernández vindicated on Tuesday the nationalization of public services and said that all decisions made “are not rooted in ideology or populist decisions. It’s the disaster caused by the concessionary companies that forces us to intervene”.
By Luis Felipe Lampreia (*) - The following piece is a picture of recent events in Argentina from a historic reference and enumerates the obstacles the country faces in developing its own hydrocarbons following the seizure of YPF from Spain’s Repsol
President Cristina Fernández said in relation to the controversial Olympic/Malvinas advert that “creativity can’t be censored”, on the contrary it should be “applauded” because it reflects the feelings of the Argentines. The head of state also rejected lifting the spot as demanded by Britain and the Y&R agency in New York.
Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman replied to recent demands of an apology made by UK Defence Minister Phillip Hammond over a controversial Olympic advert shot in the Falkland Islands, and urged London to “honour the deaths of those who died in the 1982 conflict by constructing peace.”
President Cristina Fernández defended Argentine Ambassador to the UK Alicia Castro, who tackled British Foreign Minister William Hague over Falklands/Malvinas Islands dialogue and stressed the fact that “the right to talk cannot be invalidated.”