President Alberto Fernández assured that there is “enormous potential” to increase trade with China, especially in terms of agribusiness and mineral production, and after affirming that President Xi Jinping has been “central to making the rapprochement of our peoples”, he thanked the government of that country “because in a difficult moment it has sided with us.
“Although we have a great distance, I believe that President Xi Jinping has been central so that the rapprochement of our peoples becomes a fact of reality,” said the head of state in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV). ), noting that there is “enormous potential where ties can be deepened.”
The President thanked the Chinese government for the assistance provided to Argentina, because “during a difficult moment it has sided with us and has helped us with the swap that allows us to improve trade”, and highlighted that also “we have in our country many Chinese companies working in the field of agribusiness, cereals, lithium, gas, among other sectors”.
“Although we have a great distance, I believe that President Xi Jinping has been essential for the rapprochement of our peoples to become a fact of reality”
“Good relationships improve ties and erase distances”Fernández reflected, noting that China “has bet on what it clearly sees as a challenge for its development, food and energy,” while “we have the capacity to produce both things, with which we associate our resources with Chinese capital.”
Likewise, he expressed that “I would like investments that are not merely extractive, that is, taking only the resources, but that in some way add value, and that is why I insist every time I speak with a Chinese investor, that if we are going to exploit lithium , convert it into batteries and export those batteries.”
Regarding the prospects that open up after the incorporation of Argentina to the Chinese initiative called the “Silk Road”Fernández evaluated that “we will be able to balance a little more” the trade balance, because “that is where the two countries win, that is the work we have to face, and China is helping us a lot to achieve that objective,” he said.
“Latin America has to stand up to the world and negotiate as a region that is privileged, for being a producer of food and energy and that puts us in a very good place to discuss with the global world”
The President, on the other hand, evaluated in the interview as “positive” the results of his administration, in which he had to “face very difficult years since” after having received a country in virtual cessation of payments, in the first two I had to face a pandemic and in the other two the consequences of an unexpected war: that is why it seems to me that the results are positive”.
“We were able to find agreements with creditors, recover, in 2021 we grew 10.3 percent and this year that ended around 5.7% and that shows us that we are on the right path for development, and we were able to accumulate reserves”he claimed.
Asked about the initiative for the Development and Global Security raised by the Chinese president, Fernández declared “absolutely agree, because one of the most valuable things it proposes is multilateralism”.
At that point, he maintained that “Latin America has to stand up to the world and negotiate as a region that is privileged, for being a producer of food and energy, and that puts us in a very good place to discuss with the global world.”
“The global economic system must be changed, because the concentration of income in so few, while misery and poverty is distributed among millions, speaks of the injustice of the system”
In addition, He spoke out “against bipolarity in the world, as it existed in the years of the Cold War, much less do I want hegemonies and that there be a hegemonic country in the world” and expressed that “that is why the interesting thing about President Xi’s proposal is not to promote that, respecting each and every one of us with their autonomy. I value that very much.”
Fernández recalled that in this context “the pandemic has exposed the unfairness of world economic development” and in terms of vaccines where “Russia and China came to our aid and to the aid of the Latin American countries”.
For Fernández, the reincorporation of Brazil to Celac will allow progress in regional integration
The President expressed his “certainty” that the reincorporation of Brazil into the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) will allow progress “in the best way towards the reality of regional integration” and he trusted that the organization “can deepen its ties with China”. considering them as a “strategic” issue.
With a view to the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the entity, which will be held next Tuesday in Buenos Aires, Fernández pointed out that this meeting will serve to “meet the leaders of the region and we can discuss to see How do we face the future?
In statements to China Central Television (CCTV), the Head of State reviewed the work he is carrying out as pro tempore president of the organization and stressed that he placed “much emphasis on the need to show a united Latin America to the world,” in addition to bringing ” regional claims” to the world stage.
“I raised the Latin American position at two G20 meetings, both in Rome and in Indonesia, and I went to the Summit of the Americas and raised our concern with North America about the injustices that the system was generating,” he said.
Regarding the operation of the entity, Fernández opined that “the unfortunate thing in recent years was that Brazil has left the international scene” as a consequence of the policies implemented by former president Jair Bolsonaro.
But now, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s return to the presidency of the neighboring country, he said that he is “certain that we will be able to carry out the idea of regional integration in the best possible way.”
The decision was formalized just over a week ago, when Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero received the Brazilian ambassador to Argentina, Reinaldo José de Almeida Salgado, who handed him the formal letter by which Brazil made official its return to Celac, after the Bolsonaro’s decision in January 2020 to suspend his participation in the bloc that brings together 33 nations from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Fernández also trusted that Celac “can deepen its ties with China” since “a good link is strategic for us” with that country, he said.
Faced with these situations, Fernández maintained that “the global economic system must be changed, because the concentration of income in so few, while misery and poverty is distributed among millions, speaks of the injustice of the system.”
The President said that he “never” participated in the idea promoted by the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, of “fanning the ghost of political fear of China” on the world stage, considering that “Argentina is a sovereign country and has the right to establish links with whom it considers its friends and with those who offer them the best development possibilities”.
“I believe that the United States can have a mature link with Argentina, just as the link we have with China can be mature and those who have to finally decide what is best for us are the Argentines, but it does not seem right or reasonable to spread fear. policy towards China, which acts in the region respecting our policies and has always had a very respectful attitude towards the country,” he said.
“The pandemic has exposed the unfairness of world economic development. Russia and China came to our aid and that of the Latin American countries”
He later remembered that On his trip to that country last year, he had the opportunity to “enjoy this great colossus and Chinese culture” and that, at his request, he was “the first foreign president to tour the Museum of the Chinese Communist Party”, because ” I am the president of the Justicialista Party and Xi Jinping is the president of the Communist Party, and the times we meet we always spend a little time talking about the relations” between the two organizations.
He also appreciated that on the two occasions that he met with Xi Jinping, the interviews had exceeded the expected duration, which, in his opinion, “demonstrates the Chinese President’s interest in Argentina” also taking into account that that country “today is leading trade world”.
“I have the best impression of him,” said Fernández and said that he valued “particularly and I am sincerely grateful for the interest that China has in us; they were two very cordial talks that lasted much longer than established because there are clearly meeting points that sometimes make conversations go by unforeseen topics”.
