Argentina, Cuba stress boosting food, medicine exchange

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) – Argentina’s newly sworn-in President Alberto Fernandez and his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and expand the exchange of food and medicine between the two countries.

“The heads of states stressed the importance of increasing the exchange of medicine and food, with special emphasis on generic drugs for senior adults in our country,” Argentina’s Presidency said in a statement following the meeting of the leaders in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

The meeting was the first official interaction of Fernandez as the president of Argentina.

The fresh leader underlined that his new government will promote “mutual cooperation” between Argentina and Cuba, saying his country has "a brotherhood commitment" to Cuba.

Fernandez was sworn into office on Tuesday with an inauguration ceremony joined by the dignitaries of several states, including from Venezuela.

Late October, Fernandez put an end to Mauricio Macri administration in the first round of presidential elections with 48%- 40% of the votes.

The attendance of Venezuela's Communication and Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez to the sworn-in ceremony in Buenos Aires was proof that Argentina's stand against Venezuela was poised to change, ignoring the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR) sanctions placed against the South American country on Dec. 3, which includes travel bans for top officials from the government of Nicolas Maduro.

The TIAR sanctions came after a meeting of the 35-member regional bloc, Organization of American States (OAS) -- a group which threw its supports behind Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido and recognized him as the interim president of Venezuela.

Since the beginning of the year, Venezuela has been embroiled in political unrest as President Nicolas Maduro and Guaido engaged in a power battle, while the country's economy has been in precipitous decline following a global downturn in the price of crude oil.