Barely two weeks after the trip to the United States, Sergio Massa is once again packing his bags and heading that direction in search of financial aid. Your mission third round in that country since he took office as Economy Minister will participate in the Spring Assembly of the IMF and the World Bank, where he awaits a face-to-face interview with the head of the organization, Kristalina Georgieva, something he was unable to specify during his last visit to Washington.
On his trip, which will last from Wednesday to Saturday, Massa will be accompanied by his chief of staff, Leonardo Madcur, his adviser for foreign relations, Gustavo Martinez Pandiani, and his director of communications, Santiago García Vázquez. The agenda will include a financial chapter with bilateral agreements with investors from HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Mastercard, JP Morgan and the CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development, Al-Marshad.
The goal is to advance the “bridge” that Alberto Fernández and Joe Biden would have discussed at the end of March in the White House, a meeting which Massa joined. That visit allowed unlock a $5.4 billion disbursement and make reserve targets more flexible with the IMF. The agency also approved $3 soybeans. But that wouldn’t be enough to meet the schedule, so they’re working on new nods from the US.
To resume these efforts, the official will stop this Wednesday in the Dominican Republic, where he will meet with Luis Abinader, the president of that country. The key encounter, however, will be with Wendy Sherman, US Assistant Secretary of Statesecond to Secretary Antony Blinken and an official appointed by Biden in late March to continue the direct link with Argentina.
Sherman will be accompanied by Ricardo Zuñiga and Massa da Pandiani, both undersecretaries for Latin America in their respective foreign ministries. “The idea is to strengthen the bridge This was agreed in the White House, Sherman asked to meet Massa to move forward, for this we make a stopover in the Dominican Republic, they see him as an interlocutor and they respect his job as head of the Economy”. sources explained.
Only Thursday will the minister disembark in Washington for a breakfast at the IMF headquarters, where he will meet colleagues from the region and participate in the G20 finance ministers meeting. He will also hold bilateral meetings with Mathias Cormann, Secretary General of the OECDand on Friday afternoon he scheduled business meetings with Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s senior, with whom he met weeks ago.
In the meantime, the working meeting of the finance ministers and the governors of the central banks of Latin America, Canada and the USA will be held on Saturday, a meeting in which Georgieva will participate. Massa’s expectation is to organize an interview with the Bulgarian economist. Close to the minister they insist it They’re not looking for a “waiver” (exception), as expected by the market given the virtual failure to reach the reserve target in March.
In Economy they ensure that they seek to accelerate the disbursement of approximately US$ 3,000 million from multilateral organizations, such as the World Bank and the BID, in which the United States is key, agreements to export to that country and investments in Argentina. The government offers energy, critical minerals, lithium, rare earths and pharmaceuticals, resources considered strategic by the US Southern Command against China’s advance in the region.
Source: Clarin
