Argentina’s Finance Secretary Pablo Quirno promoted to Foreign Minister

Pablo Quirno, currently serving as Argentina’s Finance Secretary, has been appointed as the country’s new Foreign Minister. Quirno will replace Gerardo Werthein starting Monday.

President Javier Milei has said he plans to reshuffle his cabinet after Sunday’s legislative elections, but Werthein’s exit, announced on Wednesday, came earlier than expected.

On Thursday, Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona also stepped down from the administration.

A spokesperson for the Economy Ministry said Quirno’s replacement as Finance Secretary has yet to be confirmed.

Quirno will be Milei’s third Foreign Minister, after Werthein and Diana Mondino, an economist and right-wing influencer. Mondino was fired last year after Argentina voted against the United States trade embargo on Cuba in the United Nations General Assembly.

The new Foreign Minister is close to Economy Minister Luis Caputo. He had also previously served in the Economy Ministry alongside Caputo for two years during Mauricio Macri’s presidency.

He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. He worked at JP Morgan for 17 years, one of the banks reportedly in negotiations to grant a support package to Argentina. JP Morgan’s chief executive officer, Jamie Dimon, is currently in Argentina.

Quirno is no stranger to international issues. Last month, he accused “a Chinese bank” of carrying out a “destabilizing maneuver” with a large purchase of dollars, amid the ongoing run on the peso. Only one Chinese bank operates in Argentina: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

As part of Caputo’s team, he was also in the technical staff that negotiated U.S. President Donald Trump’s bailout of Argentina. The decision to appoint him empowers Caputo inside the cabinet and binds finance even more closely to international relations.