Elon Musk calls to invest in Argentina after meeting up with Milei in LA

The Argentine president praised the Tesla CEO for his efforts to try and land on Mars

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recommended his followers invest in Argentina after meeting up with President Javier Milei on the sidelines of a global investors conference in Los Angeles on Monday.

“I recommend investing in Argentina,” Musk posted on X, the social media app he owns. He also published a picture of himself with Milei, Presidency Secretary Karina Milei, and Argentine Ambassador to the U.S. Gerardo Werthein. 

“Great meeting with President Javier Milei,” he added.

This is the second time Milei has met Musk. In April, the Argentine president visited Musk at Tesla’s Austin headquarters and discussed a variety of topics.

Milei traveled to the U.S. on Saturday to speak at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles on Monday. During his speech, titled “Ode to capitalism”, he called on business people and investors to “take a chance on Argentina” because “huge investment opportunities” are coming with his economic program.

“Far from being the cause of our problems, free business capitalism as an economic system is the best tool that we, as a species, have to end hunger, poverty, and destitution throughout the planet,” Milei said, adding that the U.S. was “the Mecca of capitalism” and the attendees “the true heroes of western progress.”

The president lambasted Argentina, calling it “the most paradigmatic failure of collectivist ideas in western history ,” but argued that, under his presidency, the country is now moving towards “austerity, saving, and state-free economic activity.”

He also took the opportunity to talk about Musk and praise his efforts to land on Mars. “I can’t help but celebrate my friend’s effort to set foot on Mars, because we understand that space exploration is at the height of our destiny as an exploratory species too great to be confined to this planet,” Milei said.

The Milken Institute is an economic think tank based in Santa Monica. It was created by Michael Milken, known for developing high-yield bonds or “junk bonds.” He was charged for racketeering and securities fraud in 1989 in an insider trading investigation and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 2020, he received a pardon from former President Donald Trump for his 1990 conviction.

Musk, one of the top-three wealthiest people in the world, has previously shown his admiration for Milei’s full-throated embrace of private enterprise. Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet company, also landed in Argentina in March. In his first televised speech days after becoming president, Milei said he intended to grant Starlink permission to operate in Argentina.

— With information from Reuters

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