Rousseff to make first foreign visit in Argentina

Brazil’s new President Dilma Rousseff will make Argentina her first foreign stop Monday in a bid to shore up what she called “special and strategic” ties between South America’s biggest economies.

“Brazil and Argentina have responsibilities to all of Latin America to make our region have a greater international stage presence,” Rousseff said in an interview published Sunday in the main Argentine newspapers before her arrival in Buenos Aires.

The president stressed she was seeking to build “an extremely close relationship with President (Cristina) Kirchner” of Argentina. The pair will meet on Monday at the Casa Rosada government headquarters and sign several energy and science cooperation agreements.

“I will emphasize the fundamental idea of a special and strategic relationship with Argentina,” Rousseff said.

“Two women presidents is an event to celebrate, because the two biggest countries of South America are showing how their societies have evolved to overcome traditional prejudice against women that has existed in the south and elsewhere in the world.”

Rousseff is also due to visit with the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children disappeared during Argentina’s brutal 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

Speaking about a possible devaluation of the real against the dollar, Rousseff said the Brazilian currency had remained within expected fluctuation but admitted that “nobody in the world can say it will not devalue.”

“It is imperative that developed countries be responsible on this issue,” she added.

Rousseff also defended the South America powerhouse’s “historic” relationship with the United States, whose President Barack Obama is due to visit Brazil in March on a tour that will include stops in Chile and El Salvador.

“It is important to see the US as a major trading partner of Latin American countries. For Brazil, the US is and always will be a very important partner,” she added.