Argentina today launched an attempt to join forces with NATO as a “global partner”, as President Javier Milei continues to consider stronger ties with the West.
Firebrand Milei has been accused of playing “two different games” as the famously unpredictable leader recently promised to set out a diplomatic “roadmap” for the UK to hand over the Falkland Islands.
The contentious issue arose during a meeting between Milei and UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron in January, during which the pair said they would “agree to disagree and do so politely”, according to the Foreign Office.
As the Argentine government tries to improve relations with the United States and its allies, it announced Tuesday that it would buy 24 American-made F-16 fighter jets from Denmark, a deal backed by Washington.
Argentine Defense Minister Luis Alfonso Petri met today with the Deputy Secretary General of NATO to present the country’s formal request to join the security alliance’s list of “worldwide partners.”
President Javier Milei met UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.
German and British military personnel transfer tanks and armored vehicles across the Vistula River during NATO exercise Dragon-24, part of the large-scale exercise Steadfast Defender-24.
The famously unpredictable leader recently promised to set out a diplomatic “roadmap” for the UK to hand over the territory. He is shown brandishing a chainsaw during the presidential election campaign in September.
Petri met with Mircea Geoană in Brussels, who wrote in X: ‘It is a great pleasure to welcome Defense Minister Petri to NATO headquarters.
‘Argentina plays an important role in Latin America and I appreciate today’s request to explore the possibility of becoming a NATO partner.
‘NATO works with a variety of countries around the world to promote peace and stability. Closer political and practical cooperation could benefit us both.’
According to NATO, global partners cooperate with alliance members, for example by sharing intelligence and participating in military operations.
NATO’s current global partners include Australia, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan. As things stand, Colombia is the only South American country associated with NATO.
It comes as Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg warned on Thursday that Ukraine had an “urgent and critical need for more air defence”, while attending a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy.
While NATO allies had recently made “encouraging” commitments to military support, he said, “We should have given them more sooner.”
“Ninety-nine percent of military support for Ukraine comes from NATO allies, and it is vitally important that NATO allies maintain and increase their support,” the Secretary General added.
Petri, meeting with NATO officials, is said to have discussed Argentina’s continued support for Ukraine. President Zelensky supports Milei and attended her inauguration in December, hailing it as “a new beginning for Argentina.”
Argentine Defense Minister Luis Alfonso Petri met with the Deputy Secretary General of NATO
Meanwhile, Milei’s rhetoric on the Falkland Islands has remained forceful throughout his presidency.
At a recent ceremony to mark the 42nd anniversary of the start of the conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom, he told the audience: “I want to reiterate our unwavering claim to the islands.”
Ian Shields OBE, a retired RAF officer who served in the war and is now an academic, told Express.co.uk that raising emotions about the Falklands “does well with a right-wing nationalist agenda, and also distracts people.” of Internal Economic Issues.’
President Zelensky attended Milei’s inauguration in December and hailed it as “a new beginning for Argentina.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Milei is a self-confessed Anglophile, having admitted in the past that he is a fan of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill.
He previously said that when he criticized the Argentine military junta’s invasion of the islands in 1982 when he was 11, his father beat him for being unpatriotic.
However, during his presidential campaign, Milei insisted that Britain’s return of the Falkland Islands was “non-negotiable”, adding that the territory, known as the Malvinas in Argentina, is Argentine.
He stopped short of saying he would go to war for them, instead comparing it to the UK handing Hong Kong back to China.
The Falklands were the subject of a brief but brutal war after the Argentine invasion in 1982, which claimed the lives of 649 Argentinians and 255 British soldiers.
Britain repelled the invaders after sending a naval armada, but the issue was never considered resolved in Buenos Aires.
Argentina still claims the islands, while Britain says the Falklands are an autonomous entity under its protection. In a referendum held in 2013, 99.8 percent of votes voted in favor of remaining British.