President Alberto Fernández and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden will hold a bilateral meeting today in the White House’s Oval Office at 2.40 p.m. D.C. time (3.40 p.m. Argentine time). The meeting has an open agenda, and they will later be joined by several members of their staff. 

Fernández left Argentina on March 24 to start a week-long tour, starting with the Iberoamerican Summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He then made a two-day stop in New York City, where he held a meeting with over 30 investors, banking managers, and businessmen at the Council of the Americas on Monday night. 

Yesterday, Fernández was joined in D.C. by Economy Minister Sergio Massa. Fernández flies back to Argentina later today, but Massa will remain in the US to meet with International Monetary Fund (IMF) director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday. 

Given the US’s key role in the IMF’s decisions, Massa and Fernández hope to secure support for their economic plan for Argentina during the trip. Fernández will argue that this summer’s drought, which has devastated Argentina’s harvest and subsequent exports, has changed this year’s macroeconomic panorama.

On behalf of Argentina, Massa and Security Minister Aníbal Fernández will accompany the President to the White House, alongside spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti, the President’s General Secretary Jorge Vitobello, the Argentine Ambassador to the US Jorge Argüello and representatives from the Foreign Ministry, including Minister Santiago Cafiero. 

Biden will be joined by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, Special Assistant Juan González, U.S. Ambassador in Argentina Marc Stanley and Lorenzo Harris, Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone at the National Security Council. 

Biden and Fernández will host a press conference after their meeting, before their delegations join them. 

Massa’s economic agenda

Yesterday, Massa met with authorities from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to work on the details of an information exchange between both countries through the Trade and Transparency Unit (TTU). The resource could help Argentina identify “irregular maneuvers” in international trading, Argentina’s Customs Director Guillermo Michel said after the meeting. 

Massa also met yesterday with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) president Ilan Goldfajn, looking to plan the credit disbursement schedule for the first half of 2023, which begins today. 

The two had met 10 days ago at the IDB’s 63rd Annual Meeting in Panama. There, Massa and Goldfajn signed three financing agreements worth US$235 million.