The bilateral meeting between Argentine President Alberto Fernández and his United States counterpart Joe Biden, scheduled for July 26 in Washington, was postponed without a new date due to the US president’s coronavirus situation.

Argentine ambassador to the United States Jorge Argüello told The Associated Press on Friday that the White House had called him in the morning to notify him of the postponement of the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, without specifying when it could be held.

“They cannot tell me because the White House has its own health protocol; They are going to wait for President Biden to have two negative tests and that is uncertain,” said the ambassador.

Argüello indicated that, for security reasons, during the day a “land reconnaissance” will be held at the government headquarters in Washington, which indicates that the meeting will take place as soon as Biden recovers.

Biden, who has mild symptoms of the illness, will remain in isolation, albeit working, for at least five days.

The meeting was followed with expectation in Buenos Aires. It was going to be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders after the exchanges they held in various international forums and summits

Fernández was expected to talk with his American counterpart about the agreement signed between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund in March to refinance a debt of some 45,000 million dollars and the obligations that this agreement entails for the South American country, such as a reduction in public spending. , which is resisted by social organizations and unions and a more leftist wing of the government.

A diplomat linked to the organization of the meeting who did not want to identify himself because he was not authorized to speak on the matter told The Associated Press that the possibility is being analyzed that the Argentine Minister of Economy Silvina Batakis – who was to be part of the official delegation together with Fernández – go anyway to Washington to hold meetings with officials on the 26th.

Batakis took office on July 4, after Martín Guzmán resigned in the midst of a strong internal government debate on the direction of the economy that caused a rift between Fernández and the vice president and former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015). and an acceleration of inflation.

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