Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leaving this evening (September 10, 2017) for a working visit to Argentina, Colombia and Mexico.
In addition, Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes will travel to Buenos Aires to meet with Netanyahu, during what will be the first visit by a sitting Israeli prime minister to Latin America.
“We’re now developing ties with Latin America — it’s a huge market in a large bloc of important states,” Netanyahu told reporters before the trip.
He will be accompanied by Israeli businesspeople from the fields of agriculture, water, communications and energy. They will hold meetings with local counterparts.
Netanyahu also is scheduled to attend events with local Jewish communities and leaders in all three countries.
The itinerary will begin in Buenos Aires, where Netanyahu will meet with President Mauricio Macri and is expected to sign a series of bilateral agreements on public security, customs and social insurance as well as an archives agreement regarding the Holocaust.
Netanyahu will attend ceremonies in Embassy Square, site of the 1992 Buenos Aires terrorist bombing, along with family members of the Israeli diplomats killed in the attack. He will also visit the Jewish community building (AMIA), site of the 1994 terrorist attack, along with family members and survivors. Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America.
On September 13, Netanyahu will fly to Bogota, where he will meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and is expected to sign joint agreements in science and tourism.
On September 14, the prime minister will fly to Mexico City and meet with Mexican President Enrique Peńa Nieto. A memorandum of understanding on space; an aviation agreement; a communications agreement; and a MASHAV cooperation agreement will be signed.
Mexico, which suffered a serious earthquake last Thursday, will be receiving aid from the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s MASHAV Agency for International Development Cooperation in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy in Mexico.
From Mexico, Netanyahu will continue on to the UN General Assembly in New York to deliver an address on Tuesday, September 19, and to hold meetings with world leaders.
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