Roundup: Mexican, Argentine presidents upbeat after Davos

Upon returning from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the presidents of Mexico and Argentina struck a positive tone on Saturday, saying that their visits had been fruitful.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had gone with the goal of lauding the recapture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a fact that was predictably brought up during his speech to the conference on Friday.

Since his recapture in early January, following his second daring escape from prison in July, Guzman has become a political liability for Mexico with Pena Nieto's approval rating reaching record lows.

Therefore, during a WEF plenary session entitled "A New Agenda for Latin America", Pena Nieto sought to ensure the attendees that Mexico was handling the matter. According to the president, Mexico plans to extradite Guzman to the U.S. as soon as possible, with the country's attorney-general overseeing this process.

Furthermore, the head of state sought to reassure investors that Mexico remained a safe place, despite the drop in oil prices and the devaluation of the peso against the U.S. dollar.

"The fall in oil prices will not curb or limit the implementation of the Energy Reform," said Pena Nieto, adding that the state-owned Pemex would remain open for any domestic or international investors.

He also explained that the latest round of tenders for onshore oilfields in December had seen more than 50 companies qualified. Coupled with growing international interest, Pena Nieto said this result "had exceeded government expectations," a mood he intends to carry forward for deepwater field tenders later in 2016.

Meanwhile, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri led the country's first official delegation to the WEF, which had largely been snubbed during the days of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Upon landing at home on Saturday, Macri wrote on his official Facebook page that "Argentina was back talking to the world."

He arrived in Davos with a number of high-ranking cabinet members, saying that he would seek 20 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investments for Argentina this year. In an interview with Bloomberg, Marci said that he had secured billions in investments from the likes of Coca-Cola, Shell, Total and Dow Chemical while in Davos.

However, this was not enough for the new president. "Argentina has decided to take its place in the global landscape," Macri told Bloomberg. "We need important companies of the world to finance and construct roads, ports, waterways, energy, trains. We're a huge country that only depends on trucks today. It's impossible."

Macri also met with international creditors demanding a repayment schedule, after Kirchner largely abandoned them and called them "vultures."

After a meeting with creditors, including Elliott Management, Macri said that no repayment deal had yet been reached but hoped this would be done "in early 2016."

In another capital meeting, Macri met on Thursday with British Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss the tense issue of the Malvinas Islands(called Falklands in the UK).

This had been a particularly contentious topic during the Kirchner administration as Argentina made numerous demands for Britain to return the islands.

Macri had insisted the islands belonged to Argentina. However, during his meeting with Cameron, he said that Buenos Aires "had initiated a new kind of relationship" with London, according to local media.

His cabinet chief Marcos Pena told the MercoPress agency that "Malvinas was left as an issue to address. Clearly, we have a difference and each has its own position. We are embarking on improving relations for the benefit of both Argentines and English."

However, the WEF was not such a success for Brazil. A far cry from when President Dilma Rousseff was met with applause at the WEF in 2014, now analysts are fearing the country is facing a long period out in the cold.

While Rousseff stayed away, she dispatched her new finance minister, Nelson Barbosa, hoping he would manage to calm down worried investors.

This was a thankless task which only got worse during the week as the IMF estimated Brazil's GDP would drop by 3.5 percent in 2016.

In Davos, Barbosa bravely stated that this was just a temporary phase, in which the country would make structural changes, lower its pensions burden and simplify its tax code. Endi