President Javier Milei will embark Thursday (June 5) on a lengthy foreign tour that will include meetings with Pope Leo XIV and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Argentina’s presidency confirmed Friday.
Milei will also meet with his French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on his overseas jaunt.
The President’s 10-day tour will be the longest foreign trip so far of term in office. The first stop will begin in Rome.
Milei will meet with Meloni at the Chigi Palace in the Italian capital on June 6, after the signing of an agreement between Argentina’s state energy firm YPF and Italian multinational ENI.
Ideological allies, Argentina’s head of state has previously suggested Italy join a "league of nations” and form their own multilateral organisation.
A day later, the La Libertad Avanza will meet with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, the successor of late Catholic pontiff Pope Francis.
Leo XIV, the first US-born pontiff, worked as a missionary in Peru and has a special interest in Latin America.
After a stop in Spain, where he will speak at the closing day of the Madrid Economic Forum, Milei will travel to Nice to meet with Macron on June 9.
Argentina’s head of state is not expected to meet with officials from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, with whom he has a fractious relationship.
By contrast, Milei has met several times with Macron since his inauguration in December 2023. Their most recent bilateral encounter took place in Buenos Aires last November, around the time of the G20 Leaders Summit in Brazil.
Israeli leg
For Milei, the main event is his visit to Israel, his second visit since taking office.
Argentina’s head of state has a packed agenda. After landing on June 9, the following day he will meet with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He will also visit the famous Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during his trip.
On June 11, Milei will receive the Genesis Prize, an award dubbed the “Jewish Nobel,” at a special event and address the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.
Argentina's Ambassador to Israel, Axel Wahnish, told local press on Friday that during the visit the launching of a new air route linking Buenos Aires with Tel Aviv will be announced.
"It is a flight that is not a technical detail. For me it is the symbolic demonstration of the union between the two peoples," Wahnish told Radio Mitre.
Milei intends to sign a “memorandum for democracy and freedom” while in Israel, said Wannish.
The following day he will hold a meeting with relatives of those kidnapped by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and will address the Parliament.
He is scheduled to return to Buenos Aires on June 14, after another short stop in Spain.
– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL
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