One Belt, One Road: Argentina joins the new silk road initiative as Fernández and Xi meet in Beijing

President Alberto Fernández has rounded up the Chinese stop of his new international tour by arranging Argentina’s entry into the Belt and the Silk Road Initiative which will represent financing in excess of US $ 23 billion for the South American country.

Argentina has thus joined the 140 countries already included in China’s international trade initiative. “With this strategic decision, the national government will sign different agreements that guarantee to finance for investments and works for more than 23,700 million dollars, generating a new milestone in the bilateral relationship that has been significantly expanded and strengthened in the last 15 years,” Casa Rosada sources pointed out.

The financing is to be delivered in two stages: one worth US $ 14 billion which has already been approved under the mechanism of the Strategic Dialogue for Economic Cooperation and Coordination and another deal for US$ 9.7 billion to be handled by an ad-hoc group created by the two countries in order to manage joint operations ahead, particularly those linked to the Silk Road, it was announced.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, for its acronym) seeks to promote cooperation and connectivity between more than 140 countries through two main components: one of a land nature (the “Silk Road Economic Belt”) and a transoceanic leg (the “Maritime Silk Road”).

Other 13 cooperation documents were signed between Fernández and Xi regarding green development, digital economy, space, technology and innovation, education and university cooperation, agriculture, earth sciences, public media, and nuclear energy.

According to the statement, China and Argentina agree to carry on with close communication and coordination in international affairs and safeguard the overall interests of the two countries and other developing countries.

Argentina supported the China-proposed Global Development Initiative, said the statement, adding the two sides stress the importance of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both countries also praised the importance of G20 as the main forum for international economic cooperation and agreed to continue to strengthen coordination in such areas of common concern as health, finance, and trade.

According to press reports, Xi held meetings with numerous world leaders attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Games which lasted around 20 minutes each but spent over an hour with Fernández.

Source: MercoPress

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