In the context of the 8th Summit of the Americas being held in Lima this week, Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie arrived in Lima last night and today held a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, prior to the Ministerial Meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers to be held this afternoon.
In the morning of a busy day, Faurie met with Colombian Foreign Minister María Angela Holguín, with whom he discussed the critical situation in Venezuela and the possibilities of finding solutions to the humanitarian crisis that arose during the past year following the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan citizens that are moving to the neighbouring countries.
In addition, the Ministers discussed Argentina's participation as a Guest of Honour at the 2018 Bogotá Book Fair (FILBO 2018) to be opened on Tuesday 17 April, which will feature several Argentine authors and artists.
Faurie was later received at the Torre Tagle Palace by Peru's Foreign Minister, Néstor Popolizio, with whom he reviewed the Argentina-Peru bilateral relationship, both in political and economic terms. They also discussed possibilities of increasing cooperation in different areas.
At midday, the Argentine Foreign Minister and his Bolivian counterpart, Fernando Huanacuni Mamani, met to review the progress made on the bilateral relationship and discuss the current regional challenges in the context of UNASUR. At the end of the meeting, Argentina handed over the Presidency Pro Tempore of UNASUR to Bolivia, which will effectively assume the Presidency on 17 April.
This afternoon, Faurie will participate in the Ministerial Meeting of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) alongside the other convened Foreign Ministers. The 8th Summit of the Americas, which on this occasion focuses on the central theme "Democratic Governance against Corruption”, will be officially opened on Friday, and the plenary session of Heads of State will be held on Saturday morning.
