President Albert Fernández proposed today to his counterpart from the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to “advance” in the strategic association agreement agreement between the two countries, evaluating that “this is the moment” to go towards another stage of “linkage” and, in this framework, asked him to analyze “the way in which Argentina becomes the gateway” for that country in Latin America.
“I am determined that Argentina has to stop having that great dependency that it has with the (International Monetary) Fund and the United States, has to make its way to other sides and there Russia has a very important place,” Fernández told Putin., at the beginning of a meeting alone that they held in the Kremlin, in Moscow, and after which they share a lunch.
«I want you to be certain that I see a great opportunity to move forward“, the Argentine head of state told Putin.
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Within the framework of a private meeting between the two -with the participation of two translators-, Fernández assessed that «this it is the moment in which we can advance in other areas«.
«The context is very favorable to link us more“, raised the Argentine president at the beginning of the meeting, which began a few minutes before 8 (Argentine time) and in which he told his Russian counterpart: “We have to see how Argentina becomes Russia’s gateway to Latin America in a more determined way.
At the start of the meeting, Putin congratulated the head of state for the “successes” in the vaccination campaign in Argentina against the coronavirus, one of whose mainstays was the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, the first to be applied in the country, in December 2020.
«Argentina was the first country in Latin America to register the Sputnik vaccinePutin remarked.
The Russian president remarked that «there is a lot of potential for our trade and economic environment and in the last year we have seen a good rate of growth» in the bilateral relationship.
Fernández, in turn, said he felt “an honor to be able to meet him” personally, and accepted Putin’s invitation to see “how we can complement the link much more.”
«In Argentina Russia is a highly valued country for the way it came to our aid when the vaccines appeared“, Fernandez highlighted and stressed that “it was very important how they supported us when vaccines were scarce and the results have been formidable from Sputnik Argentina».
After recalling that he received three doses of the Russian vaccine, Fernández said: «We are deeply grateful that they were there when the rest of the world was not helping us with vaccines.
In this regard, he pointed out that “just as we received the Sputnik vaccine from RussiaWe collaborate so that the vaccine reaches Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, and other places on the continent that benefited from the vaccine.
«I think that is a great opportunity. because what I perceive is that we have a society predisposed to advance with the agreements with Russia”, he said.
On the other hand, he indicated that the Argentina «particularly lives a very special situation as a result of its indebtedness and of the economic situation that I had to inherit».
«From the 1990s onward, Argentina has turned its sights very firmly on the United States. and the Argentine economy depends on the debt with the Monetary Fund and the influence that the United States has in the Fund”, he asserted.
Fernández, at that point, highlighted that «during the first stage of our Government from 2003 to 2015 we tried to get out of that corset that Argentina had with the United States and there we were able to advance in the first agreement that we signed, we left the bilateral relationship to make a strategic agreement».
But, he contrasted, that «en 2015 another government arrived and once again turned all its gaze towards the United Statesand it was the one that generated the very heavy debt that we have today ».
