The Biden government has discussed with Sergio Massa its business plan and commitments with the Monetary Fund

On his second day in Washington he met with Minister Sergio Massa senior officials of President Joe Biden with whom he discussed his plans to “consolidate commitments” with the International Monetary Fund, according to the State Department, in addition to other issues of great interest to the United States such as “energy security”, the idea of ​​launching global initiatives to alleviate supply shortages due to unforeseen problems such as war in Ukraine.

The minister has had a busy schedule since arriving in this capital and has already seen several Democratic administration officials. He went to the State Department on Tuesday, where he met Ricardo Zuniga, official for the region. At night he dined with Juan González, Biden’s adviser for Latin America.

This Wednesday he went to the White House to meet Mike Pile, Undersecretary for the Economy of the National Security Council and with Jake SullivanNational Security Advisor and the highest U.S. official you will see on this tour.

From the Biden government there has been no official communication of what was discussed in the various meetings, other than what he said to Clarione a spokesperson for the State Department, the area that usually comments on international visits with topics of interest to the White House.

In short, the spokesman stressed that Massa and Zúñiga have spoken “plans to consolidate commitments to the International Monetary Fund” and also on “increasing bilateral cooperation on energy and food security and promoting investment in critical minerals”, such as lithium.

According to sources from the Massa delegation, the question of obligations with the Fund also emerged in the dinner that the minister held with Counselor González at the ambassador’s residence Jorge Argoellowhich was also attended by the ambassador of the United States Marco Stanleybetween baskets of parmesan, hake and dulce de leche pancakes.

And also in the meeting at the White House with Pyle and Sullivan, where he went with Argüello, the deputy minister Gabriel Rubinstein; the chief advisor Leonardo Madcur and international consultant Gustavo Martinez Pandiani. Ambassador Stanley also joined.

According to sources in Economics, Massa told Biden’s advisers how the stabilization program he headed worked and what the five-year growth targets would be. Massa wants to restore confidence in Argentina and has made it clear in all sectors that you are willing to comply with the program objectives with the Fund, which includes reducing the fiscal deficit to 2.5% at the end of the year and $ 4.1 billion in reserves this quarter.

The minister is very enthusiastic about the liquidation of soy these days (he receives messages to that effect minute by minute from Buenos Aires) and with the money that will arrive from the IDB for reserves. He said they don’t need political impetus from the White House for now because the technical meetings to review the program “They have come in handy”.

The minister will meet Monday at the Treasury Department with David Lipton and in the Fund with the managing director KRistalina Georgieva. In Massa’s entourage they believe that politics – that is, the Treasury talks with the IMF – must play “in the end, if you have something to correct”.

Another issue that worries the White House and that has been present at all the meetings is the Energy security. They fear that due to the war in Ukraine this winter will be very hard in Europe and they are thinking about it mechanisms to solve the gas shortage. In the Biden government they propose it Argentina can help with some strategy given their potential in Vaca Muertaalthough it cannot export yet because the jobs are not finished.

Specifically, they think of some sort of future market for gas molecules to be bought today with benefits later. “A project to compensate for what Europe will overpay”, to lower the costs of the difficult European winter that is coming, they explain. The initiative should be carried out by private entities, but the government should put the tool together. The United States could act as a bridge, they indicated. It’s all very embryonic because Argentina, with any luck, could have export capacity in 2 or 4 years.

For this tour, Massa has between his eyebrows and eyebrows to obtain loans to ease liquidity and investments in all sectors to balance the balance.

For the minister, Argentina’s development must take place in four key areas: energy, rare minerals, proteins and the knowledge economy. That’s why his tour also includes meetings with specific companies. It’s a message, they say. This Wednesday you met with representatives of the mining companies Río Tinto and Livent (lithium experts); the appliance company Whirlpool and Amazon.

The minister concluded the day with a visit to the American Chamber of Commerce where he will see investors and representatives of companies such as Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cargill, Chevron, Citi, DHL, Dow Chemical, Excelerate Energy, General Motors, Gilead Sciences, HSBC, John Deere, Merck & Co., Inc. Metlife, Pfizer Inc., Google and Procter & Gamble and Spotify.