President Javier Milei sets off to Davos, Switzerland, on Monday afternoon, where he will address the 54th World Economic Forum gathering and hold his first face-to-face meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Kristalina Georgieva. 

Milei and Georgieva will meet on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. CET, according to the president’s agenda. The lender, which has been supportive of the Milei government’s early initiatives, last week reached a staff-level agreement that could unlock a new disbursement for Argentina. 

The president will deliver a half-hour special address on Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. CET (11:45 a.m. Argentine time) on “Achieving security and cooperation in a fractured world,” alongside WEF founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab.

Milei flies out from Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini airport on Monday at 5:50 p.m Argentine time, arriving in Davos on Tuesday afternoon after a layover in Frankfurt, Germany.

There will be no bilateral meetings or press interviews during Milei’s three-day trip, Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni told the Herald, although he will appear with French President Emmanuel Macron for a photo on Wednesday, Communications Undersecretary Javier Lanari said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and French President Emmanuel Macron will also give special addresses on Wednesday. 

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is scheduled to speak on Tuesday. The Milei government has had a tense relationship with Beijing so far: on the campaign trail, the president said that the Chinese people are “not free” and called the government an “assassin”. A lawmaker from Milei’s La Libertad Avanza coalition met with representatives from Taiwan in December. China claims Taiwan as its own and analysts say other countries establishing relations with the island is a “red line” for China.

In his first trip as president, Milei will travel to Davos with Chief of Staff Nicolás Posse, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei (who is his sister) and Foreign Minister Diana Mondino. Posse, Caputo, and Mondino will also speak at the forum. They return to Buenos Aires on Friday at 7:55 a.m. local time.

Meeting with Georgieva

This will be Milei and Georgieva’s first in-person meeting, although they shared a video call in November after he won the elections. Milei said at the time that the IMF “showed its cooperation to find the structural solutions that Argentina needs.” 

Last Wednesday, the IMF reached a staff-level agreement that could unlock access to a US$4.7-billion disbursement from the lender after a review is completed.

The IMF is a critical actor in Argentina’s economy and politics: after former President Mauricio Macri took out a record US$44 billion loan in 2018, former President Alberto Fernández’s team renegotiated the deal and reached an extended fund facility program in 2022. The new agreement includes an economic program that Argentina must comply with to receive disbursements every three months, which the government uses to pay the previous debt.

The latest deal includes a tightening of the country’s fiscal targets from 0.9% deficit to 2% surplus, which would imply greater austerity measures than previously envisioned.

“IMF staff and the Argentine authorities reached understandings on a set of economic policies that can restore macroeconomic stability in Argentina and bring the current program back on track,” read a communiqué released by the IMF.