Argentina's Milei sole western head of state to refuse to endorse UN Pact for the Future

Argentina declined on Sunday to endorse a key United Nations pact that aims for member countries to commit to action on issues including peace, poverty, climate change, and gender equality - the only one of 193 UN member states to do so.

Foreign Minister Diana Mondino - who once compared homosexuals to “lice” - announced that Argentina would distance itself from the 56-point Pact for the Future while speaking at the Summit of the Future at the UN’s General Assembly in New York.

She said the country’s decision was based on prioritizing “the defense of economic freedom and private property.”

“Many points in this pact go against or would hold back Argentina’s new agenda,” Mondino said.

Far-right President Javier Milei - who tasked Mondino with addressing the UN General Assembly - rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

While many traders applauded Milei, 53, his 10 month-old administration has failed to secure significant foreign investment despite shredding a wide range of labor regulations by decree within days of taking office and narrowly obtaining passage of his laissez-faire Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) on June 28.

Local investment for its part, has collapsed outright. Fixed investment plunged by a near-record 26.7% in the first six months of 2024, compared to a year earlier - and nearly 233,000 registered jobs were lost.

Some 11,185 employers in Argentina went out of business in the same period - among them 57 large employers (with a staff of 500 or more). These include major multinational firms such as Adidas, Clorox, HSBC, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Xerox, and Zara.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/world/international-relations/argentina-refuses-to-sign-un-pact-for-the-future-at-new-york-summit

An exultant Argentine President Javier Milei gavels in the opening of trading on Monday at the NYSE.

Milei opted out of addressing the UN General Assembly on Sunday - and left Argentina as the sole member state out of 193 to refuse to sign the UN's Pact for the Future.

While Milei has reaped international condemnation for the arbitrary use of the country's intelligence services and brutally quashing protests recently - including the use of masked agents provocateurs and the macing of a 10 year-old girl - Argentina's already-weak economy has been among the world's worst performers this year, with GDP falling 4.6% in the first half of 2024 despite a sharp recovery in harvests form a record 2023 drought.