Spotlight: China-Argentina ties enjoy ample growth potential

Argentina and China hold vital importance to each other, given their friendship, cooperation and ample potential for growth in diverse sectors, experts have said.

"No country in the world can deny the importance of bilateral diplomatic ties with a country like China, and Argentina falls into that category," Maria Cecilia Peralta and Nadia Radulovich, co-founders of Asia Viewers, a consulting firm that provides public and private sectors with insight into Asian countries and affairs, told Xinhua recently.

As major emerging markets, China and Argentina are well positioned to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation, share development opportunities, and work together to tackle common challenges.

The South American country is a traditional producer and exporter of primary agricultural products. It hopes to increase its export of high-tech and value-added goods to the Asian giant in a bid to optimize its economic structure.

Beijing, meanwhile, has been very active in helping to modernize and strengthen Argentina's strategic industries, including the railroad sector, hydraulic engineering and nuclear energy.

ECONOMIC COMPLEMENTARITY

Since Argentina's new government came to power in December 2015, it has readjusted the relationship with China and scrutinized again bilateral agreements signed in recent years, the experts said.

However, China-Argentina ties remain intact both "at the national and business level," and "previously signed accords were given new appreciation," the experts added.

The two countries, which established diplomatic ties in 1972, are jointly tackling the challenge of continuing to cultivate their relationship and boost their cooperation of mutual benefit under the new circumstances.

"For Argentina, the Asian country is a great source of resources in areas of cooperation, such as investment, trade and infrastructure, which the country currently needs to continue its path to development," said the experts.

"For the Asian giant, the food security of its population is crucial, as is the possibility to access foodstuffs with greater added value, so it can reach the development goals it set as part of its ambitious Five Year Plan," said Radulovich, who is a member of the China Group at the Argentine Council on International Relations (CARI).

With China being the leading market for Argentina's food exports, and Argentina being China's fifth-largest source of agricultural goods, the experts see the agri-foods sector as having the most potential for growth.

"China's population growth, growing middle class, and new food-related consumer trends and tastes have to be taken into account in the area of exports," said the consultants.

"We believe Argentine firms should focus on exporting products to cities that are growing, and strategically put all their efforts into exporting food products, but those with greater added value compared to the unprocessed foods they are exporting today," said Peralta, an economist and member of CARI.

HUGE POTENTIAL FOR COOPERATION

The experts believe "the flow of investment will be fluid in the coming years" in infrastructure.

However, in the field of finance, Argentina "faces a great challenge with regard to Asia's new financial engineering," they said.

"Argentina doesn't belong to any of the new Asian financing entities, so it needs to devise a strategy so that it is not left out of this new niche of financing opportunities ... Joining the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) would be a good way to join this new financial order," they said.

Stepped-up exchanges in trade and other areas have naturally led to greater people-to-people and cultural exchanges, the consultants said.

"You can see greater interest in China and its millenary culture and traditions. Year after year more students in our country study the Chinese language and the cultural activities that are organized draw a lot of people, either out of curiosity or interest," they said.

On the future of bilateral ties, the experts said Argentina should study and analyze the steps it has taken so far.

Argentina should "ask ourselves what we should do to make ties more balanced and harmonious, not just in trade," they said.

Peralta is currently providing consultations for the government regarding projects with foreign financing, and together with Radulovich, has pored over all the bilateral agreements signed between the two countries over more than a decade.

"Analyzing the agreements signed from 2003 to 2015 enabled us to see how the two countries have grown and established closer ties," they said.

It also led them to see that "there are many possibilities" for cooperation in scientific and technological research, as well as in investment, construction and economics, "all sectors considered strategic" by both sides.

In September, China will host the G20 summit, which will bring together the most important decision-makers from both countries and likely lead to new agreements and cooperation at the global and bilateral levels, said Peralta and Radulovich.

"We are confident that ties between the two countries will continue along the path of friendship, cooperation and understanding," they said. Endi