Photo: Collected
Argentina’s President Javier Milei will visit Paris this week and hold a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, it has been learnt.
During the visit he will also take part in a forum organised with the aim of attracting foreign investment to Argentina, the country’s government said on Sunday.
News agency AFP reported this.
The visit is taking place at a time when signs of stagnation are being seen in Argentina’s economy. In the second quarter of this year (April-June), the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.6 percent compared with the previous three months.
A week earlier, Milei had criticised Europe, saying that because of excessive regulation, immigration and so-called ‘woke’ thinking, Europe has effectively become subjugated to these.
In an interview with French broadcaster LCI, he also brought up his ally, US President Donald Trump. Milei said Europeans dislike his ally Donald Trump because Trump tells ‘the truth’ about how Europe is heading towards decline.
The hardline libertarian president, who describes himself as an ‘anarcho-capitalist’, will speak at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Thursday. Later that day he will hold a meeting with French President Macron, according to the visit schedule published by the government.
Milei will leave for Paris on Tuesday and lead a government delegation there. The investment forum, named ‘Argentina Week’, will run from 30 September to 2 October.
After coming to power in 2023, Milei made major cuts in government spending. As a result, his government has been able to achieve a budget surplus, and inflation, which was once in three digits, has also been brought under control. At present the annual inflation rate has come down to about 35 percent.
However, because of three consecutive years of austerity, or the policy of cutting government spending, the industrial sector, employment and people’s consumer spending in Latin America’s third-largest economy have weakened.
