Spain is the second stop on the Argentine president's European tour to strengthen his position vis-à-vis the IMF. | Photo: EFE

Madrid, May 11 (RHC)-- The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, obtained on Tuesday the support of the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, in the negotiations that Buenos Aires is carrying out with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the payment of the debt.

Sanchez and Fernandez held a meeting this Tuesday at the Moncloa Palace, the seat of the Spanish Executive, as part of an official trip of the South American leader to several European countries with the aim of obtaining support for the negotiation of the debt with the IMF.

The forthcoming visit of the President of the Spanish Government to Argentina generates "very high expectations", said Fernández.  It will serve to consolidate "a strategic agreement" between the two countries.  "And we can relaunch this agreement precisely with his visit and deepen it as much as necessary," added the Argentine president, who recalled that his country has received "many investments" over the years from Spanish companies.

Furthermore, he added, "all of us are descendants of Spaniards, so we must feel a privilege and deepen that bond.  It is with this expectation that we are going to receive him and with all the affection that President Sánchez deserves."

The head of the Spanish Government thanked Fernández for his words and underlined Spain's support to Latin America and the Caribbean.  "Together with Portugal, there is no other country within the European Union that works so hard for a closer and stronger relationship between Europe and Latin America," said Sánchez.

"We share with the president also that view that I raised at the G-20, when the vaccine did not yet exist, of the need to declare the vaccine as a global good," he mentioned.  "It was something I had talked about in February with Pope Francis, that all mankind should have access to that vaccine.  Argentina is already producing the active ingredient of the AstraZeneca vaccine, working together with Mexico."

"We are awaiting quality approval and have made progress with Sinopharm's production. It is a moral and ethical imperative that the vaccine reaches the whole world.  That is the effort we have to make as the global community that we are," Sanchez said.

Later this week, during his stopover in France, Fernandez will lead a meeting with businessmen at the Argentinean embassy in Paris, and then he will be received at the Elysée Palace by President Emmanuel Macron.

On the other hand, on Thursday, the delegation is scheduled to visit Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace, where Alberto Fernandez will hold a private audience with the highest authority of the Catholic Church.