Argentina: Milei will defend ultraliberal measures in Davos – 01/17/2024 – Market

Argentine President Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, will speak this Wednesday (17) to the world elite in Davos (Switzerland), where he will try to restore confidence in his country and insert “ideas of freedom” into an environment that he considers ” contaminated” by “socialist” ideas.

On his first trip abroad as president, Milei arouses the interest of the World Economic Forum, after signing several decrees with a series of ultra-liberal and anti-social measures in inflation-ravaged Argentina, shortly after his surprising electoral victory last month.

Milei, 53, briefly previewed the content of his speech on Tuesday during his flight to Europe on a commercial plane, which he took to bolster his austerity image.

His objective is “to insert ideas of freedom into a forum that is contaminated by the socialist 2030 agenda and that the only thing it will bring is misery to the world”, he said in a video published by the Argentine outlet Infobae, reposted by Milei on the social network X.

Many on the far right believe that the UN’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development is an anti-poverty plan that seeks to reduce individual freedoms.

Milei, often compared to former American president Donald Trump, intends to declare in Davos that “freedom is the key to prosperity”.

Your opinions on some issues may clash with those defended in the Forum. It denies, for example, that human activity is responsible for climate change.

The ultra-liberal and far-right economist said he has received more than 60 requests for bilateral meetings in Davos, but that he will not respond to all requests. “I cannot physically meet this demand,” he assured.

However, he scheduled a meeting with Kristalina Georgieva, director of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), to which Argentina owes US$44 billion (almost R$220 billion at current exchange rates).

“There’s no money”

As an outsider candidate, Milei rode a wave of dissatisfaction over decades of economic decline to win the December elections.

With the phrase “there is no money”, he promised to drastically cut spending in Argentina, where inflation exceeded 200% last year.

Since then, it has devalued the peso by more than 50%, cut state subsidies for fuel and transport and halved the number of ministries.

“What Milei is looking for in Davos is to generate trust in the international economic establishment. He is a figure who does not generate much trust,” said Alejandro Frenkel, professor of international politics at the National University of San Martín.

“He wants to present himself as someone trustworthy and show his economic program as favorable to global investments,” he added.

Latin America and security

Security was addressed this Wednesday in Davos, about which the Ecuadorian chancellor, Gabriela Sommerfeld, acknowledged that “it has fallen a lot” in her country recently, due to the conflict with drug trafficking factions.

“The country was paralyzed by fear and lack of opportunities”, emphasized the minister who asked for “cooperation” to protect Ecuador, a trafficking route.

At the same round table, Colombian President Gustavo Petro emphasized that “the key this year” is to face “territorial inequality” in his country, particularly on the Pacific coast, the most impoverished area.

According to him, this ambition involves generating “licit economies”, where illegal activities currently prevail as a result of “a global anti-drug policy derived from the United States that has largely failed”.