The Diplomat
King Felipe VI and the President-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei, spoke yesterday about how Spain can participate in the solution of Argentina’s problems, explained the Foreign Minister appointed by the new Argentine President, Diana Mondino, at the end of the meeting between the two leaders at the Palacio San Martín.
“We discussed the difficulties Argentina will face and possible solutions,” she said. Mondino added that not only Spain but “everyone” can participate in these solutions, although she recalled that Spain is Argentina’s second largest foreign investor and expressed her hope that “private activity will work”.
The meeting was attended on the Spanish side, in addition to the King, by the Secretary of State for Latin America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Juan Fernández Trigo; the Spanish Ambassador to Argentina, María Jesús Alonso; the Secretary General of the King’s Household, Domingo Martínez Palomo; and his diplomatic adviser, Alfonso Sanz.
Felipe VI arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday to attend the inauguration of Javier Milei as President of Argentina, the country with the largest Spanish community abroad, with approximately half a million residents.
Shortly before Don Felipe’s arrival, Milei explained to several Spanish journalists stationed at the entrance that they would talk “about the situation in Argentina and Spain and the ties that unite us and try to deepen them”, according to the EFE news agency. The president-elect avoided commenting on the fact that the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, has not yet congratulated him on his victory in the second round of the elections: “These things happen”, he said.
According to information provided by the Casa del Rey, Felipe’s agenda in Buenos Aires yesterday included a meeting at the Casa Rosada with the outgoing president, Alberto Fernández, and a meeting at the Embassy with the Spanish community in Argentina.
Felipe VI will be joined today at the inauguration ceremony of the new Argentine president by the presidents of Chile, Gabriel Boric; Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; Paraguay, Santiago Peña; and Ecuador, Daniel Noboa.
Also in attendance will be Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, who visited Milei yesterday at the Hotel Libertador, and the deputy spokesperson of the Popular Group in Congress, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, have also travelled to Argentina.
