Off the wire
• Mekong Delta faces worst drought, saltwater intrusion in century  • UN promotes safe cities, spaces for women in Mexican exhibition  • Argentine jeweler turns tech trash into wearable art  • Myanmar fish farmers on alert against El Nino  • Regional surveillance unit opens in Singapore  • Singapore sees less immigration offenders in 2015  • Commentary: China transition deserves global patience  • Myanmar to vaccinate millions of U-5 children against polio  • Aussie police meet need for speed  • Brazil's economic activities down 4 pct in 2015: central bank  
You are here: 　 Home

Interview: Obama's visit to Argentina aims to maintain U.S. influence: expert

Xinhua, February 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The upcoming visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Argentina in March is aimed at maintaining America's regional influence, said an Argentinean expert.

In an interview with Xinhua on Thursday, Matias Carugati, head economist of an Argentinean consultancy firm, Management & Fit, said that "Obama's visit is very important to Argentina. It shows strong American interest in maintaining ties with countries in this region."

The U.S. president will visit Argentina on March 23-24, the White House announced Thursday.

This will be the first visit by a sitting American president to Argentina since that of George W. Bush, who visited the city of Mar del Plata for the fourth Summit of the Americas in 2005.

According to Carugati, Obama will seek to deepen "cooperation between the governments in many areas, including trade and investment, renewable energy and climate change."

"It has been almost two decades since the presidents of the United States and Argentina met in a bilateral meeting," he added.

"For Argentina, this visit shows the renewal of ties with the world's leading economy after years of abandonment," said the analyst. "It also sends a signal that Argentina is returning to the world stage and that the United States is prepared to help the administration of President Mauricio Macri."

However, negative reactions to the visit remained.

Former representative and left-wing politician Luis Zamora expressed "his rejection to Obama's tour to Argentina and the Macri government which invited him."

"We should mobilize to reject this visit. It is a provocation... especially when it is planned (for March 24) on the 40th anniversary of the genocidal coup which the United States encouraged," said Zamora. Endi