MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

G7: Milei mingles with world leaders but no picture with Lula

Milei spent quite a while next to Biden

Argentine President Javier Milei began mingling with the elite of the global leadership Friday at the exclusive Italian resort of Borgo Egnazia where the G7 Summit is taking place. Although the South American country is not a member of the group pitting together the seven largest world economies, he attended as a guest at the invitation of host Prime Minister Georgia Meloni who welcomed him personally.

But the most notorious occurrence concerning South American representatives was what failed to happen: A picture of Milei with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Milei did hold brief encounters with fellow Argentine Pope Francis, US President Joseph Biden, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Later on, the Libertarian leader was to hold one-on-one talks with Meloni, Macron, Georgieva, and World Bank President Ajay Banga.

Closing the day's events the attendees were to have dinner during a musical performance by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Friday's activities included a panel on Artificial Intelligence at which Francis was the first to speak.

Milei also sat next to Biden at a round table. It was the first time both leaders met face to face despite the Argentine's numerous trips to the United States in recent weeks. Perhaps Milei's outspoken preference for Biden's electoral rival Donald Trump played a role in delaying this encounter. The Argentine head of state has repeatedly voiced his intention to align with the United States and admitted that although he felt closer to Trump he would be willing to meet with whomever sat at the Oval Office.

Milei looked particularly at ease with fellow rightwinger Meloni and Georgieva. “I always love meetings with you because you are hyper-transparent and I think we connect through transparency,” the Argentine leader told the Bulgarian Georgieva. “We both love Economics,” she replied. “We Liberals like that,” Milei concurred.