Argentina: BRICS, CELAC and the OAS

Today’s Episode: Argentina-BRICS, CELAC and the OAS


Guest: Franco Metaza,Director-General for Foreign Affairs of
the Argentina National Senate.


Guest Bio:


Franco Metaza is a political activist of Argentina. He is
involved in the peronist-kirchnerista movement of “La
Campora”. 


He has a degree in Government and International Relations. He did
his degree thesis on the Mercosur Parliament. 


He has held different positions related to international
relations in the General Secretary of Argentina Presidency,
Chamber of Representatives and the National Bank of
Argentina. 


He participated in several G20 summits leading the youth
delegation from his country (Mexico 2012, Russia 2013, Australia
2014). 


He is currently pursuing a PhD in Defense.


Background:


"While the White House was thinking about what else to turn off
in the world, ban or spoil, Argentina and Iran applied to join
the BRICS," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
said.


Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, currently in Europe,
recently reiterated his desire for his country to join BRICS.


An Argentine government source said there was no "formal process"
to do so as yet but that was the country's intention.


"Argentine authorities have already publicly expressed their
willingness to join. It is a process that has only just begun,"
the source said, asking not to be named.


Glossary:


BRICS


The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill
in 2001 to describe the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South
Africa joined in 2010.


BRICS account for more than 40% of the world's population and
about 26% of the global economy.


China is currently Argentina’s main trading partner outside South
America.


India is Argentina’s fourth largest trading partner and the
fourth largest destination of Argentina’s exports


CELAC


The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is
an intergovernmental mechanism for dialogue and political
agreement, which includes permanently thirty-two countries in
Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a regional forum that
brings together all of Latin America and the Caribbean countries.


Argentina is now the president pro-tem of CELAC succeeding Mexico
after the summit in Mexico City September 18, 2021


OAS


The Organization of American Statees is an international
organization that was founded on 30 April 1948 for the
purposes of solidarity and co-operation among its member states
within the Americas. Headquartered in the US
capital, Washington, D.C., the OAS has 34 members, which are
independent states in the Americas.[2] Since the 1990s, the
organization has focused on election monitoring. The head of
the OAS is the Secretary General; the incumbent is
Uruguayan Luis Almagro.


Mentioned in this Episode:


Observing the Observers: The OAS in the 2019 Bolivia Elections





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