Ivanka Trump Visits Troubled Argentina, Bringing Cash for Roads
Ivanka Trump is in the northern Argentine province of Jujuy to promote women’s economic empowerment.
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government approved $400 million in financing for Argentina’s road network during a visit by Ivanka Trump, the U.S. President’s daughter and adviser, to the Latin American country that’s struggling with a financial crisis on the eve of presidential elections.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the U.S. government tasked with helping American businesses invest in emerging markets, will bankroll around 430 miles of roads in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Cordoba and Mendoza, according to a statement from Argentina’s Transport Ministry.
The announcement comes less than eight weeks away from an election which President Mauricio Macri, a personal friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, looks set to lose to leftist opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez. Ivanka Trump is in the northern Argentine province of Jujuy to promote women’s economic empowerment and no-one from the U.S. delegation is due to travel to Buenos Aires -- or meet with Fernandez -- to avoid the appearance of interference in the presidential election. The money, however, will be extremely welcome by the current Argentine government as it resorts to drastic measures to stabilize the economy.
At a bilateral lunch in the mountain town of Purmamarca, Trump and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan met Argentina’s foreign and transport ministers. Macri joined via a conference call in order to thank the U.S. visitors for the financial assistance, aides said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas
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