⁍ Mauricio Claver-Carone is the White House official elected to lead the Inter-American Development Bank.

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⁍ He said he pledged his support in a call with Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez.

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⁍ Claver-Carone said he aims to play a constructive role in Argentina’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.

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– The new head of the Inter-American Development Bank says Argentina has asked for “help and support” in its negotiations with the IMF, and he looks forward to working with the country to help it reach a deal. “They’ve obviously asked for help and support with the IMF negotiation, and we look forward to doing so,” Mauricio Claver-Carone tells Reuters. “We want to see them get into a program with the IMF. We want to help them that.” Claver-Carone, the White House’s deputy chief of staff for Latin America and the Caribbean, says he spoke with Argentine President Alberto Fernandez shortly after he was elected over the weekend, and that the two agreed to work together to help the country negotiate a program that would replace a failed 2018 agreement. But Claver-Carone says the talks will be “long and arduous,” and that it’s important for Argentina to move past “obligations” it has “prevented them from moving forward.” He also says the IDB will work to help other countries affected by the H1N1 virus. “Some of these nations are kind of stuck in the middle … with no way out due to their income or the way their income is measured despite the inequalities,” he says.