Today, Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie held a meeting and a working lunch with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Counsellor of the People's Republic of China, Wang Yi, who is visiting Argentina in order to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, held on 20-21 May at the Palacio San Martín.
During the meeting, Minister Wang reiterated his support for Argentina's efforts to preserve economic stability and expressed his country's willingness to provide assistance. Minister Faurie expressed gratitude on behalf of the Argentine Government, as well as the commitment to continue strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership between both nations.
Last 11 May, President Xi Jinping sent a letter to his counterpart, President Mauricio Macri, highlighting Argentina's efforts to keep the economy on course and expressed his genuine willingness to provide all necessary assistance, to the extent possible. In the letter, he also expressed his absolute confidence that Argentina will be able to overcome its current difficulties, as well as to achieve long-lasting stability and healthy and sustainable economic growth.
The Ministers underscored the recent advances in the bilateral relationship and agreed on their mutual interest in continuing to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership. They also exchanged views as regards issues on the regional and multilateral agenda, including the G20.
They also addressed the need to expand and diversify bilateral trade, as well as to increase the share of Argentine products in the Chinese market. Minister Faurie commended the joint work carried out in furtherance of cooperation between governments and the private sector, in order to promote Argentine exports. Both Ministers agreed to continue promoting direct investment in strategic sectors, such as infrastructure, agribusiness, energy, mining, finance, telecommunications, and logistics- and knowledge-based services, among others, which may be of interest to Chinese companies.
Over the last two years, mutual trust was strengthened as a result of frequent high-level exchanges. As a result, access to the Chinese market for peas, grapes and alfalfa was expanded and, last week, both countries marked a milestone with the signing of protocols for the export of cooled and frozen bone-in and boneless beef (from the entire Argentine territory), ovine meat from Patagonia and bovine pancreas for industrial use to the Chinese market.
