US President Barack Obama is on a two-day visit to Argentina.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday praised Argentina's new center-right President Mauricio Macri for the swift pace of reforms to create a stronger economy and said the United States was ready to help the South American country.
Obama, on a two-day visit to Argentina that marks a rapprochement between the two countries after years of tension, said Macri was setting an example to neighbors in the region.
"I'm impressed because he has moved rapidly on so many of the reforms that he promised, to create more sustainable and inclusive economic growth, to reconnect Argentina with the global economy and the world community," Obama told a joint news conference after the two leaders held talks.
Obama said US businesses were announcing investments worth tens of millions of dollars in a show of confidence.
In his first 100 days in office, Macri has distanced himself from South America's leftist bloc, old allies of former President Cristina Fernandez, and sought a thaw in relations with Western capitals as he seeks new investment in Latin America's No. 3 economy.
Macri said Obama's visit marked the start of new "mature" relations in which the countries would cooperate on issues ranging from trade to fighting international drug trafficking.
Earlier thousands of people cheered Obama's motorcade as it made its way along Buenos Aires' tree-lined boulevards, handing the US leader a friendlier reception than his predecessor George W. Bush, whose presence at a Summit of the Americas in 2005 was met with protests and snubbed by the-then President Nestor Kirchner.
© Thomson Reuters 2016