The bilateral meeting between President Alberto Fernández and his counterpart from the United States, Joe Bidenwhich was scheduled for Tuesday July 26 a washington, was postponed due to the coronavirus that the American president is taking.
In the last hours it was known that Biden, 79, tested positive for covid-19, following which he isolated himself in the White House until he tested negative. Official sources clarified that “the preparatory meetings or the advanced ceremonial and security meetings” for the holding of the bilateral were not cancelled, and reported that both parties are agreeing on a new date “shortly”.
The White House reported yesterday that Biden contracted covid-19 with “very mild symptoms,” according to his spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, in a statement. The Democratic president was taking Paxlovid, Pfizer’s anticovid pill, without estimating how long he might be isolated.
Biden is fully vaccinated and has received two booster doses, and “will continue to assume all of his duties” during this time, the White House added.
Argentine diplomatic sources reported that, despite the suspension, today the ceremonial and security preparations convened by the White House continued to carry out a reconnaissance of the place of the meeting, a usual procedure, which would indicate that the bilateral will be held in a short time.
The importance of the meeting
The Government encourages expectations for the bilateral meeting that President Alberto Fernández will hold with his counterpart from the United States, in which It will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders. following the exchanges they held in various international forums and summits.
The Argentine president was scheduled to leave the Ezeiza “Ministro Pistarini” International Airport on Sunday night for the United States. The meeting with Biden was the main activity of Fernández’s tour of the North American country, a trip in which he also planned to meet with businessmen to try to attract new investments to Argentina.
The bilateral had arisen following an invitation from the American within the framework of a telephone conversation and it was initially agreed for Monday, July 25, but days ago, at the request of the White House, it was rescheduled for the following Tuesday, which was finally suspended due to Biden’s health situation.
Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Massa, and the new Minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis, among other officials, are also scheduled to travel to Washington next week, accompanying Fernández to his meeting with Biden.
The meeting agenda
In economic matters, the agenda of the meeting will inexorably include a review of the progress of the agreement with the IMF, which Batakis ratified as soon as he assumed it, but the implications of the Russian invasion in Ukraine will also be addressed, circumstances that for Argentina might justify incorporation of any changes.
Another of the issues that will fly over in the meeting with Biden is the delay in the disbursement by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) of the credits that correspond to Argentina for the first semester of 2022, a delay that Argentine officials they clearly award the head of the entity, the Cuban-American Mauricio Claver-Carone.
