Argentine President Javier Milei ended his short trip to three European Union countries by visiting the Czech Republic, according to AP News.
Javier Milei met with Czech leaders, including his counterpart, retired General Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Petr Fiala. The South American country’s leader also addressed the conference on how to deal with an inefficient government.
Support for Ukraine, bilateral co-operation in business, technology, defence and other areas, as well as a trade agreement between the European Union and the countries of the Latin American trade bloc Mercosur, topped the agenda.
We together support [Ukraine’s] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky against the brutal Russian aggression, and at the same time we agree that Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorism.
Pavel, for his part, expressed the hope that Argentina would become one of NATO’s global partners in the future.
I’m glad that Argentina is ready to take its share of responsibility for the global security.
Milei’s austerity measures sparked waves of protests in Argentina. Protesters say the cuts have put the poor at greater risk and jeopardised public universities. Milei has also drawn the anger of human rights activists after calling abortion “murder” and criticising the country’s feminist movement as a “cult of a gender ideology.”
The trip to Prague came after a visit to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz. However, it followed a controversial trip to Spain, where Milei had no plans to meet senior government officials amid a diplomatic crisis.
Defence Minister Luis Alfonso Petri accompanied the Argentine president. Petri signed a memorandum of understanding with his Czech counterpart Jana Černochová on co-operation in the defence industry.
