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Shannon comes seeking consensus
La Nacion
July 09, 2008

By Hugo Alconada Mon

The Bush envoy will arrive tomorrow with the idea of deepening "the convergences and not the divergences"

WASHINGTON.- Seven months since the most serious bilateral spat in recent decades, a delegation of the U.S. government will arrive tomorrow in Buenos Aires to "deepen" and "consolidate" relations and to center them on "convergences" more than "divergences".

"We want to get closer in our bilateral relationship as a serious thing," said Tom Shannon, the highest adviser on the Americas in the Bush Administration, in an interview with LA NACION in the hours before leaving for a tour that last night landed in Colombia, today will be in Brazil, and tomorrow in Argentina, where it will remain until Saturday.

Shannon avoided alluding to the scandal that surrounded Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson and the mysterious valise with US$800,000 that opened the bilateral schism in December and whose most acute fallout extended until March. He prefers to say that the delegation will seek "to give greater regularity to bilateral talks" and insisted that now "the two countries are approaching the bilateral relationship with seriousness."

The delegation will include officials from the Department of State also in the commercial area and its office of Oceanic, Environment and Scientific Affairs of the Pentagon and the departments of Treasury and Homeland Security.

In total it will be between five and six to which will be added Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne. Of the whole delegation, however, only one other official will get as much attention as Shannon, who tomorrow could see President Cristina Kirchner.

It will be undersecretary of Treasury for the Western Hemisphere, Brian O'Neill, a veteran banker who lived and worked in Argentina and knows the rundown of the local economy and its roadmap for more than two decades. Shannon and O'Neill are decisive figures for Argentina if it plans to renegotiate the debt in default with the Paris Club, still when the countries which make up the entity have expressed that the Casa Rosada will have to first make a move to solve the conflict over its statistics, put forth a trustworthy restructuring offer and , also, give a supervisory role to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which Buenos Aires rejects.

"If Argentina is ready to talk about the Paris Club, we are too," Shannon said. "We are interested in helping in whatever way we can to reach a solution," while recalling that "Argentina has to show itself ready to talk and share a vision of how to carry the negotiation forward."

The Foreign Ministry restated that while the negotiation with the Paris Club is a major pending issue for the country in international financial matters the debt that remains in default with the creditors, or holdouts, is "off" the agenda, according to an Argentine diplomat who spoke to LA NACION and who said the agenda includes access to mutual markets, trafficking of persons, human rights and nanotechnology, among others.

Common interests

The number two at the Foreign Ministry, Victorio Taccetti, added an unanticipated issue to the agenda. He said that the government will request information from the U.S. delegation about the announced reactivation of the Fourth Fleet of its navy, whose area of navigation will include all of Latin America.

Shannon, however, made it clear to LA NACION that, due to the friction that has come up between the two capitals, his goal is to "define the bilateral relationship on points of convergence and not divergence." And he added: "This is to seek a way to consolidate what we have put on the table for both countries and the security and stability of South America."

"We should be creative, open the field of bilateral action to promote parliamentary and university student exchanges and foment agreements in the area of science and technology," he said, "and remember that historically both countries have had many interests in common."

Looking to the future, among the interests is how the United States could help consolidate local growth. "O'Neill has great experience in the area of infrastructure," Shannon told LA NACION.

But, diplomatic to the end, he took care to avoid saying by name the energy shortages of the past years or the problems over the investment climate that dominates conversations between Argentine businessmen and foreigners. Shannon opted on a positive note: "The bilateral ties could be wider."