After President Macri´s meeting with the King and Queen of Norway
In a joint statement made today at the Argentine House of Government, the Argentine Foreign Minister, Jorge Faurie, and the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Ine Eriksen Soreide, agreed on the importance of both nations boosting bilateral trade, fostering investment opportunities, consolidating their view on the defence of human rights and maintaining Antarctic cooperation.
"We have had the opportunity to discuss trade, which is significant but does not fulfil the potential of both economies," Faurie stated. He also underscored that they addressed the presence of investors in Argentina and "major achievements", such as "the YPF-Statoil agreements and the presence of Norwegian Airlines in Argentina."
For her part, Foreign Minister Soreide remarked that "the fact that President Macri and his team are introducing new reforms has played an important part in awakening the interest of Norwegian companies in Argentina."
She also stated that Norwegian businesspeople now see in Argentina "new opportunities, a more favourable business environment and predictability, and all these factors are of major importance when analyzing whether to invest in a country or not."
In that vein, the Argentine Foreign Minister highlighted the importance of "the delegation of 50 businesspeople travelling with King Harald and Queen Sonja, all Norwegian representatives, which is evidence of Norway's recognition of the changes introduced in Argentina."
"Naturally, we have discussed an issue of major importance to Argentina, which is its OECD membership bid, for which Norway has provided great support," Faurie added.
In addition, they referred to the importance of making progress in the negotiations between Mercosur and EFTA (the free-trade association comprised of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein) in parallel to the talks between Mercosur and the European Union (EU).
The Argentine Foreign Minister mentioned, among the issues of shared interest, "the future of Antarctica, which is a strategic place and a world heritage site." He also underscored that "following up on the evolution of Antarctica's resources is paramount in terms of the current impact of climate change."
As regards the possibilities of increasing bilateral trade, Faurie stated that "we, Argentinians, have to work towards selling more wine to Norway and we hope that EFTA will help us." In this regard, Soreide stated that "we hope this is an opportunity for openness so that more Argentine wines will access the Norwegian market."
The Norwegian Foreign Minister also stated that both countries are going through "a moment in which exciting achievements can be made within the framework of our long-standing relationship which dates back to the opening of our Embassy in 1906."
"We cooperate in a wide range of issues; of course, we cooperate at the multilateral fora to which the Foreign Minister has referred, but there is also great potential for continued discussion on business, trade, industry, and cultural exchange issues," she highlighted and then praised the way in which Argentina "is exercising the G-20 Presidency", the summit of which will take place at the end of the year.
"We have the opportunity to discuss some areas on which we work jointly in a regular fashion, such as Human Rights, gender equality, and sexual minorities' rights, but also some key issues pertaining to the preservation and strengthening of a rule-based system," Soreide added.
