Mauricio Macri is already in Johannesburg for the Brics Summit: he will meet Putin and Xi Jinping

JOHANNESBURGO.- The President


Mauricio Macri
is already at the Hilton Sandton hotel in this city, after his private flight to OR Tambo International Airport, where he was received by the Argentine Ambassador to South Africa, Javier Figueroa, and the national director of the ceremonial chancery, Marcelo Suárez Salvia

Macri arrived accompanied by the first lady,


Juliana Awada
Chancellor


Jorge Faurie
the secretary for strategic affairs, Fulvio Pompeo, the
sherpa Argentina in the


G-20
Pedro Villagra Delgado, and the presidential spokesman, Iván Pavlosky

Macri will remain at the Hilton until the age of 16 (11 in Argentina), where he scheduled the first bilateral meeting of the day, with the President of Russia,


Vladimir Putin
at the Four Seasons Hotel. At 17:45 (12:45) he will have a meeting with the Chinese president,


Xi Jinping
and for the 19 (14) is scheduled the last bilateral of the day, with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.


Donald Trump
does not participate in the BRICS summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) which started yesterday in this city, its shadow occupies the center stage. The threat of a "total" trade war that the US president launched against China and the repudiation of the "unilateral" actions of the White House that also affected Russia and India will be the curtain that Macri will meet in every activity of the summit

Although the summit was marked as the axis "collaboration for inclusive development and shared prosperity in the fourth industrial revolution", the rejection of Trump's protectionism and sanctions has quickly taken center stage. Xi Jinping, one of the first to arrive in Johannesburg, was charged with highlighting "the new circumstances" in which the summit will pass as soon as he meets with the host president,
Cyril Ramaphosa .

What are these circumstances? The additional US $ 34 trillion rights that Trump ordered to apply to Chinese products, after accusing Xi of manipulating the yuan for benefits. The President of the United States then warned that he was ready to "opt for the 500", alluding to the 505,500 million US dollars of Chinese imports. Trump has come to apply tariffs on aluminum from India and Russia.

Ramaphosa came back on the topic yesterday while speaking in front of the businessmen attending the BRICS business forum. "We are concerned by the escalation of unilateral measures that are inconsistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization," he said.

Overall, the South African president has set his sights on the opportunities that this trade war could open. "There is a lot of room for developing trade between the BRICS countries" and "to increase cross-investments in the productive sectors," he said.

With Putin and Xi

That's what he does


Brazil
for example, replacing some of the soybeans exported by the United States to China. And that's what Macri will offer when he joins Xi, Putin and Modi. Because, in addition to consulting them as chairman of the G-20 on the agenda that they intend to take at the November summit in Buenos Aires and remind them of the "multilateralist" position "From their management, Macri will sit in front of Xi, Putin and Modi.

This is what Chancellor Jorge Faurie alluded to when he spoke to LA NACION before leaving for Johannesburg. "The huge potential offered by the Indian market, with over 1.2 billion inhabitants, has never been used, so much remains to be done, as it is the case with Russia, "he said. they are explained in more than two-thirds by agricultural products. The government wants to open a way to sell agricultural machinery, quality beef cuts and processed dairy products.

But, above all, he seeks to attract Russian capital. A detail that deceives Casa Rosada: today Putin will be accompanied by several ministers, but also officials of Rosatom, the national atomic energy company, and its rail network, the Russian Raylways.

Russia and India (despite Argentina having a surplus balance of $ 370 million) continue to be marginal partners compared to the $ 4,500 million that the Argentina has exported to China in 2017. Of course, at the same time, it imported more than $ 12 billion worth of products Chinese opens the way to the trade balance.

"China is an actor of extraordinary weight in international trade and of unparalleled scale with Argentina. One of the challenges is to achieve dialogue and dialogue.
modus vivendi satisfying for both parties, "added Faurie, who will attend meetings with Pompeo and Villagra Delgado

For Macri, the priority of the day will be the meeting with Xi, whose goal will be to ratify an agreement between the national parks of our country with his South African counterpart, as well as an agreement to reactivate the manufacture of Pampa aircraft, he will be on the last bilateral of the tour, with the host Ramaphosa.,


Michel Temer
and his Turkish counterpart,


Recep Tayyip Erdogan
will have informal meetings.

The first lady,


Juliana Awada
will have his own agenda. Could you visit the Museum of Apartheid