Diana Tussie heads the Department of International Relations at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), and is a member of CIGI's International Board of Governors.
Melisa Deciancio is a research assistant at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO).
Economic Interests
The summit held in Pittsburgh has been the most important of the G20 Summits for Argentina. Compared to the last two summits – in Washington and London – this one has had greater publicity in the local media. Argentina has especially benefited from the decision of reinforcing the G20, which eliminated the possibility of a reconfiguration which could have led to the instituting of the G14 (G8 + 5 + 1), the French proposal for 2011, whereby Argentina would have been left out.
This summit and the meetings President Cristina Fernández held in New York before it have been used by the president to show her willingness to begin negotiations with both the IMF and the Paris Club and recover international trust. The likelihood of the acceptance of an auditing on the evolution of the Argentine economy, as foreseen in Article IV of the IMF charter, has had a great impact in the major newspapers, particularly Fernández’ affirmation that "the fact that the IMF could come to audit the national economy doesn't mean that it is going to tell us which policies to adopt". Another issue of special interest to the national media was the negotiations between the Argentine and French finance ministers in order to open the Paris Club negotiations over Argentina’s debt.
The acceptance of Article IV audits and the Paris Club has been marked as a turning point.
Political Interests
In Pittsburgh, Fernández claimed a victory inviting – with the support of the Brazilian President Lula Da Silva – the International Labour Organization (ILO) to join the summit under the conviction that jobs should be the priority in the way out of the crisis. She also insisted that the main focus of the solution must be on the real economy.
At the same time, the claim for equality among G20 members with no distinctions was reiterated by president Fernandez and reproduced in most of the media – even those from the opposition – as the voice of the weaker countries in an international organization that should not focus only on solving financial crunches but also, and more importantly, on reducing the impacts of the crisis on the weaker links.
Fernández highlighted the importance of an active role of the state to confront the actual situation, following what the government has been promoting at home.
Another issue that attracted the interest of most of the newspapers – especially the pro-government Pagina12 – has been the support of the Argentine government to the ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. In the meeting she held with Spanish President José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Brazilian President Lula Da Silva, Fernández expressed her intent to raise the case in the Security Council. In the same meeting they agreed to file a proposal for the capitalization of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), which is one of Latin America's major demands for the G20 summit. They also vowed to keep pressing for more restrictions on tax havens, something that Argentina regards as a 'decisive step' in the effort to seek a new, more solid global financial order.
International Interests
Cristina Fernández had prior meetings with Spain, Mexico and Brazil to jointly champion the restitution of democracy in Honduras, emphasizing the multilateral solution to the problem. G20 issues were also addressed, most probably the implications of opening negotiations with the hold outs and the Paris Club. During the immediately subsequent summit of Latin American and African countries held in Venezuela, the agreement establishing the Bank of the South came to light with an initial capital of US$20 billion to which Argentina pledged US$2 billion.
These strings of summit meetings reflect the features of Kirchners' foreign policy since 2003 oriented to forge closer relations with Latin America, not as a regional leader, but as a committed country with regional interests.
Global Leadership
In Argentina, the leadership issue has not been strongly addressed. Argentina is not among the big players in the world system, although it is trying to keep its relevance in the region in contrast to the Brazilian ambition to become not only the regional leader but also a world player.
President Fernández showed a strong commitment to the restitution of democracy in Honduras and pressed for a multilateral solution to the problem that would not only include Latin American countries but also the entire Security Council. She supported the Brazilian leadership in the summit and in the meetings held before and after it. At the same time, she took the opportunity to meet President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to agree to head towards Pittsburgh with a call for the world to remain vigilant even if it appears to be starting to recover from the global economic crisis.
In this sense, Argentina’s victory may have been in remaining part of the club. Public opinion seems to agree with these efforts to create a stronger international image for Argentina. Some sectors continue to see Brazil as a threat in the global scene and the apparently inevitable Brazilian leadership. At the same time, there is a considerable part of the public that still does not understand the scope of the G20 and the impact of its decisions on their daily lives, completely ignoring the purpose it serves.