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Bolivia and Argentina presidents meet Monday despite major political and ideological disagreements on regional and international topics.
After several failed attempts to score a meeting between the two heads of state, President of Bolivia Evo Morales and his Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri will finally meet Monday in Buenos Aires.
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Despite strong political disagreements, the two presidents will hold meetings covering health agreements, gas contracts, the delivery of military aircraft, the 2030 World Cup and migration questions.
"The agenda of issues is extensive," Argentina's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The meeting will be held at the Pink House, and then the two presidents will move to the El Palomar air base so that the Bolivian president can see the FADEA Pampa plane that Argentina will deliver to his country as part of a gas contract.
In February, the two nations renegotiated a key gas import contract that changes prices and volumes of Bolivia's exports to Argentina. The adjustment, which changes the schedule in deliveries so that Argentina receives less gas in times of lower consumption, will mean a savings of US$460 million for Argentina.
The presidents will discuss social health challenges to resolve the payment of health services that non-resident immigrants from Bolivia use in Argentina to cure chronic diseases, pregnancies or highly complex operations. Argentine Secretary of Health Adolfo Rubinstein, traveled last month to the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra to monitor the negotiations.
Argentine and Bolivia are also going to analyze the opportunity to incorporate Bolivia into the 2030 World Cup bid that Macri already shares with Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay.
Finally, Evo Morales and Mauricio Macri will discuss regional issues such as Venezuela situation on which they strongly disagree. Macri was one of the first political representatives to recognize opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido, as "interim president" of the country while Evo Morales reaffirmed his government's support for the democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro.
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