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Timerman will meet with Hillary Clinton
La Nacion
July 29, 2010

It will be in two weeks, in the United States

Silvia Pisani
US Correspondent

PHOENIX, Arizona.- Foreign Minister H ctor Timerman is seeking a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and hopes to get it within fifteen days. "We are working on a date," sources in the government of Barack Obama told LA NACION.

The tentative date would be Wednesday, August 11th in the morning, according to what LA NACION could find out, while some details remain before its formal announcement. Before then, Timerman will pass through Venezuela, on Sunday the 8th, after attending the inauguration in Bogota of Juan Manuel Santos as president of Colombia.

Upon confirming the meeting with Clinton, it will be the first time that both will meet face to face as the foreign ministers of their two countries. And it's likely that, by then, the Argentine government will have sent clear signals with respect to the designation of Alfredo Chiaradia as the new ambassador in Washington.

The name of the current secretary of Trade and International Economic Relations as aspirant to occupy that diplomatic headquarters was proposed in writing by the Argentine foreign ministry, while the State Department abstained from formally confirming it: "The designation process of ambassadors is confidential," they said.

The expected meeting between Timerman and Clinton could be conditioned upon the lady official's agenda, marked recently by diplomatic tensions arising from the leaking of secret documents about the war in Afghanistan.

Sources with access to the diplomatic strategy of the government of Barack Obama said that there was "no special hurry" in the designation of Timerman's successor in Washington. "Not much time has passed; the absence of an ambassador could be explained by many reasons and, at this time, there isn't an urgent bilateral agenda that requires high level negotiation," said the same sources.

In recent weeks, two names circulated as possible ambassadors. First was that of former ambassador to Vienna, Elsa Kelly, who participated in the back-room meeting held in April by Cristina Kirchner and Obama. But with the passing of days, Chiaradia's name began to spread.

What didn't seem so clear from sources in this country was the intention attributed to Timerman about the possibility of taking over the relationship with the United States, without designating an ambassador.

"That doesn't seem very viable to me," said a diplomat with renown experience in Washington, to LA NACION. "A lot of time might pass, but sooner or later they will have to name an ambassador. And it's better were it be sooner," he added.

Chiaradia had given his resignation for the job he held with Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana since 2004, when he replaced Martin Redrado in the job. But when Timerman took office, he was asked to remain in his post. Chiaradia was one of the main negotiators with China on unblocking restrictions on the purchase of soybean oil, placed by the Asian giant.

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