Argentina’s firebrand president slams socialism, claims capitalism is only way to end poverty

Argentina’s president Javier Milei delivered a firebrand speech at his first World Economic Forum on Wednesday, lambasting socialism as “a phenomenon that creates poverty” while claiming free market capitalism “was the only tool we have to end hunger and poverty”.

The self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist”, economist and TV pundit is keen to win backing for his economic ideas, which include shutting the central bank and adopting the US dollar instead of the Argentine peso.

“Today, I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger,” Mr Milei said.

“And it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism, and thereby to poverty,” he said.

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Mr Milei, who is battling to rebuild Argentina’s economy and bring down inflation which topped 200 per cent last year, shot to power last year on the back of voter anger at the worsening economic crisis.

He often campaigned with a chainsaw in hand to underscore his plans to slash the size of the state.

Before his speech, Mr Milei met British foreign minister David Cameron and had a head-to-head with IMF chief Georgieva, after Argentina struck a staff level agreement last week to salvage its $44 billion loan programme with the fund.

“We talked about deepening commercial ties, the support they will give us in the IMF and how to promote British investments in Argentina,” he said after his meeting with Mr Cameron.

Argentina and Britain have a longstanding foreign policy conflict over the sovereignty of the British-run Falkland Islands, where they fought a brief war in 1982. Argentina’s government said the topic was raised, without adding details.

Earlier UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to tackle the existential threats of climate change and “the unchecked development of artificial intelligence (AI) and international governance reforms.

Despite climate and AI garnering significant attention, “we have no effective global strategy to deal with either,” Mr Guterres said.

“Geopolitical divides are preventing us from coming together around global solutions.”

Mr Guterres noted that 2023 was the hottest year on record – with droughts, storms, fires and floods wreaking havoc on countries and communities – and that the planet is heading for a scorching 3 degrees increase in global temperatures.

“Let me be very clear,” he said, “the phase-out of fossil fuels is essential and inevitable. We must act now to ensure a just and equitable transition to renewable energy.”

Flagging the risks that AI poses to human rights, personal privacy and societies, Mr Guterres called on the private sector to join a multi-stakeholder effort to develop a “networked and adaptive” governance model for AI.

“We need governments urgently to work with tech companies on risk management frameworks for current AI development, and on monitoring and mitigating future harms,” he said,

In the morning session, US secretary of state Antony Blinken told business and political leaders he could not remember a time when there had been more global challenges, ranging from war in Gaza and Ukraine to tensions over Taiwan.

Mr Blinken said that almost none of the problems that US president Joe Biden’s administration wanted to address could be tackled in isolation, echoing comments on Tuesday by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who called for greater global cooperation.

Describing the conflict in Gaza as “gutwrenching”, Mr Blinken said what was needed to resolve the situation was a Palestinian state with a government structure “that gives people what they want and works with Israel to be effective”.

“The suffering breaks my heart,” he said during a keynote session at the forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, adding: “The question is what is to be done.”

The US Secretary of State said that Washington was hearing from virtually every country in the Middle East that they wanted the United States to be at the table in discussions over how to bring about an end to Israel’s war with Hamas militants in Gaza.

And he said Washington was also in demand elsewhere. “There is a greater premium than ever on a US partnership,” Mr Blinken told the WEF panel audience. - Additional reporting by Bloomberg

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