Despite silence between Lula and Milei, bilateral relations advance and bilateral mission embarks to Egypt

On Tuesday night, around 400 people filled one of the halls of the La Rural exhibition house, in the Palermo neighborhood, in the Argentine capital. It was the celebration of the 46th anniversary of the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI), a foreign policy think tank, chaired by specialist Francisco de Santibañes, and one of the leading think tanks in Latin America. Every time an interlocutor realized that he was talking to someone from Brazil, he would immediately ask how our country’s relationship with Argentina was going. Brazil is the neighboring country’s main trading partner and just a few days before Milei’s government completes six months in Casa Rosada, Lula and the Argentine have never spoken. The expectation is that they will meet – or bump into each other – at the meeting of Mercosur presidents, on the 7th and 8th of July in Asunción, Paraguay.

But the bilateral relationship is ongoing, despite the silence between the political leaders of the two countries. In addition to the mutual and practically frequent visits of advisors and ministers in both countries, the business dialogue did not stagnate in the face of the distance between Lula and Milei – who made severe attacks against the Brazilian and did not apologize, as they want in Itamaraty and the Palácio do Planalto. A trade mission from both countries, which includes sectors from construction to food and cosmetics, among others, will be in Egypt between the 23rd and 27th of June in search of new business opportunities. The meeting is organized by the São Paulo Commercial Association and was agreed upon during the recent Foreign Affairs Minister, Diana Mondino, in the capital of São Paulo.

Diplomatic sources from both countries interpret that this is just another fact that confirms that the bilateral relationship is going well. In a speech, at the dinner hosted by CARI, which brought together more than 30 ambassadors, as well as ministers, businesspeople, analysts and academics, Mondino spoke, highlighting the government’s foreign policy in these six months of administration. “In these six months, since the inauguration of the government of A Liberdade Avança (LLA, Milei’s party), we have made important improvements to the Argentine Chancellery, which was previously abandoned. Now we can focus on the main work: Argentina’s insertion in a multipolar world”, said the chancellor in her speech. “With Western values ​​and a country open to immigration, we work to improve our international reputation and honor our commitments. It is essential that Argentina becomes a reliable country and increases its exports to guarantee a better future for future generations,” she stated. For Mondino, who is an economist, the increase in exports is essential for Argentina to resume its growth path – this year, the expectation is for a strong drop in the economy, according to estimates by local economists and international organizations, such as the IMF.

Since taking office, the Argentine president has made seven international trips – four of them to the United States. His first trip to a country in the region is expected to be to Paraguay for the meeting of Mercosur presidents. Mondino, in turn, has been constantly praised at Itamaraty and among Brazilian businesspeople who have met with the economist and minister at Palácio San Martín (equivalent to Itamaraty). She is defined as a ‘firefighter’ who tries to put out ‘fires’ caused by Milei’s controversial statements, who already has a list of public disputes with colleagues from other countries. “She is not a diplomat, but she surrounded herself with qualified people in the field and contributes a lot to making the bilateral relationship flow,” said a senior Brazilian source. Mondino and Brazilian Chancellor Mauro Vieira have already met four times.

Last week, the good diplomatic relationship led her to call the Brazilian ambassador in Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, and talk to Vieira to request the urgent sending of a boat with gas, through Petrobras, to Argentina. The intense and unexpected cold in May caused a shortage of energy used in industry, cars and to heat the country’s homes.

As Brazil had no urgency for this energy and understands that this is a strategic relationship, which involves plans for Argentina to start offering gas to the Brazilian market, through its gas pipeline under construction, there was no doubt about this help, which included the guarantee payment of US$22 million, as reported by Brazilian government sources. Another fact that proved the fluidity of the relationship between the two countries, despite the silence and distance between the presidents.