Buenos Aires, Argentina — Argentina officially asked on Thursday to secured NATO as an international spouse, a situation that may cloudless the way in which for higher political and safety cooperation at a presen when the right-wing executive of President Javier Milei targets to spice up ties with Western powers and draw in funding.
The request got here as NATO’s Deputy Normal Secretary Mircea Geoana held talks in Brussels on regional safety demanding situations with visiting Argentine Protection Minister Luis Petri.
Geoana stated he welcomed Argentina’s bid to turn into an authorised spouse within the alliance — a valued function decrease of “ally” for international locations that don’t seem to be in NATO’s geographical section and no longer required to participate in collective army movements. NATO club is lately restricted to nations of Europe, Turkey, Canada and the USA.
The designation may permit Argentina get entry to to complicated generation, safety techniques and coaching no longer in the past to be had to it, the Argentine presidency stated.
“Argentina plays an important role in Latin America,” Geoana stated on the NATO headquarters. “Closer political and practical cooperation could benefit us both.”
Milei has been pushing a radical libertarian agenda aimed at reversing years of protectionist trade measures, overspending and crippling international debt that have plunged the country’s economy into a tailspin.
Over his past four months as president, he has reshaped Argentina’s foreign policy to one of almost unconditional support for the United States — part of an effort to return Argentina to prominence in the global economy after past administrations allowed relations with Washington and European allies to wither.
Milei’s government is also seeking security benefits through warming ties with Western countries. On Thursday, the U.S. government announced it was providing Argentina with $40 million in foreign military financing for the first time in more than two decades — a grant that allows key U.S. allies like Israel to buy American weaponry.
The funds, intended to help Argentina equip and modernize its military, will help foot the bill for 24 American F-16 fighter aircraft Argentina bought from Denmark earlier this week. Defense Minister Petri hailed the acquisition of the advanced warplanes as “the most important military purchase since Argentina’s return to democracy” in 1983. The $300 million price tag has drawn criticism from Milei’s political opponents as he slashes spending across the government.
Formally partnering with NATO requires the consensus of all 32 NATO members. Argentina’s ties to key NATO ally Britain have been fraught since 1982, when the two went to war over the contested Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
Other global partners of the Alliance include Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan. Currently the only NATO partner in Latin America is Colombia.
Conferring the status of “global partner” on a country does not mean NATO allies would come to the country’s defense in the event of an attack. That commitment — laid out in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s founding treaty — is limited to full members of the alliance.
NATO’s dialogue with Argentina began in the early 1990s. In a largely symbolic move to thank the pro-American government at the time for sending troops on peacekeeping operations to Bosnia, former President Bill Clinton designated Argentina “major non-NATO ally” in 1998.