© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Argentina’s presidential candidate Javier Milei addresses supporters as he reacts to the results of the presidential election, in Buenos Aires, Argentina October 22, 2023. REUTERS/Matias Baglietto
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Argentina’s President Javier Milei will meet British foreign minister David Cameron and IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on his trip to Davos, where he is expected to pitch his ultra-liberal government programme in a special address later on Wednesday.
His foreign minister Diana Mondino will also meet Cameron, as well as the foreign ministers of the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Lithuania and the Swiss secretary for economic affairs, according to her agenda.
The trip marks the right-wing Milei’s first overseas tour since he took office last month following a rapid ascent for the relative political newcomer, who made his name as an acid-tongued economist and television pundit.
Argentina and the Britain have a longstanding foreign policy conflict over the sovereignty of the British-run Falkland Islands, where they fought a brief war in 1982.
Argentina has long sought to restore negotiations over Falklands sovereignty, but Britain has said that was not on the table for as long as the island’s inhabitants wanted to remain British.
His meeting with the IMF follows an agreement reached last week with IMF staff over the latest review of the country’s troubled $44 billion loan programme, unlocking a more-than-expected $4.7 billion, after the previous government missed various economic targets linked to the funding.
En route to Switzerland by commercial jet, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” said he was attending the forum to “plant the idea of freedom in a forum contaminated by the 2030 socialist agenda”.