United States president Donald Trump was on the phone on Wednesday afternoon to speak with his Argentine peer Mauricio Macri. The five minute talk, according to Argentine sources, addressed the bilateral agenda, the Venezuela situation and an invitation for Macri to visit US sometime in April/June.
An Argentine prosecutor on Tuesday demanded a judicial investigation into alleged financial conflicts of interest by the country's President Mauricio Macri and family. Macri is accused of a conflict of interest in overseeing a deal as president to settle debts incurred by the postal service in a period when it was controlled by his father's business. His government has denied any wrongdoing.
Argentine president Mauricio Macri and US vice-president Mike Pence spoke last Friday on the phone and agreed that the two countries need to redouble their efforts to enhance job creation and economic growth. The vice-president also noted that president Donald Trump looks forward to speaking with president Macri.
Mercosur representatives will be meeting their European Union counterparts this week, beginning Monday, in Brussels in anticipation of another round of trade and cooperation discussions scheduled for March in Buenos Aires. Mercosur members, under the coordination of Argentina, which currently holds the group's chair are attending with a common position reached after several days of videoconferences.
Mercosur foreign ministers will be meeting next March 9 in Buenos Aires in the framework of Argentina's pro tempore chair and following on the Argentine/Brazilian presidents recent meeting when it was decided to give the group a new thrust taking advantage of the new world scenario.
The leaders of Brazil and Argentina said on Tuesday they would pursue closer ties with Mexico and other Latin American nations alarmed by U.S. President Donald Trump's promises to tear apart trade deals and build a wall in the Mexican border to protect American jobs.
Brazil and Argentina will attempt to eliminate trade barriers which limit or impede Mercosur trade, ensuring a free trade space, the sooner the better, revealed Brazilian diplomats in anticipation of the presidential summit next week, when Mauricio Macri is received by Michel Temer in Brasilia.
Argentina launched a US$7bn two-part bond on Thursday, covering its planned dollar issuance for the year in one fell swoop on the back of more than US$21bn of orders. The deal was the sovereign's third in US dollars since being welcomed back to the international capital markets last year after a protracted fight with creditors, and demand was strong.
Two years after the death of Alberto Nisman, organizers of tributes to the deceased Argentine prosecutor appear hopeful that the circumstances of his death will be clarified. Tributes were held for Nisman who was found dead at his home in the Argentine capital in January, 2015, in the midst of his investigation into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center.
Argentina's government has agreed to extend a natural gas wellhead price subsidy until 2020 and reduce labor costs in a bid to jumpstart investment in the Vaca Muerta shale formation. The agreement, reached between the national government, the provincial government of Neuquen, industry and labor unions, comes at a time of lackluster upstream activity, reflecting an uncertain price environment and cost concerns.