The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloniarrived this Tuesday at Buenos Aires to meet with the Argentine president, Javier Mileiwith whom he will seek to deepen bilateral ties.
As confirmed by official sources, Meloni was received upon her arrival in Buenos Aires by the Argentine vice chancellor, Eduardo Bustamante, and on Tuesday night will have dinner with Milei at the Olivos presidential residenceon the northern outskirts of the Argentine capital.
Meloni arrived in Buenos Aires from Brazil, where he participated in the G20 Summit along with several world leaders, including Milei himself.
Meloni’s agenda
The Italian Prime Minister plans to leave a wreath at the José de San MartÃn monument on Wednesday morning and then go to the Casa Rosada, headquarters of the Argentine Executive, for a meeting with Milei.
In the afternoon, Meloni will be awarded the honorary keys of the capital by its mayor, Jorge Macri, in a ceremony to be held at the Italian Institute of Culture in Buenos Aires.
Finally, Meloni will travel to the nearby Teatro Coliseo to attend a tribute to Italian cinema and there he will offer a speech before his return to Rome.
This is Meloni’s first official mission to Argentina since he came to power in October 2022 and, according to Italian Government sources, “will allow us to deepen the solid bilateral partnership.”
In Argentina the largest Italian community lives abroad, which exceeds one million peopleand a large part of the population of the South American country has Italian ancestors.
The far-right politician has met Milei on three other occasions, all this year, and in June she invited the Argentine president to participate in the Italian G7 summit.
At the bilateral meeting in Buenos Aires Priority sectors of cooperation between both countries will be exploredwith special interest in collaborating in areas such as justice and security.
Bilateral trade between Italy and Argentina
In economic matters, Meloni and Milei will seek to promote bilateral trade and investments, with some 300 Italian companies that employ more than 16,000 people in Argentina.
According to official figures, in the first nine months of the year Argentina exported to Italy for 751.9 million dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 24.2%.
Meanwhile, in the same period, the South American country imported from Italy – its eighth largest import market – for a total of 995.1 million dollars, with a year-on-year drop of 27.9%.
According to the sources consulted, the Italian Government has special interest in sectors such as energy, IT, precision mechanics, infrastructure and the food industry.