China and Argentina have great potential in enhancing cooperation in various fields

In the past five years, China and Argentina have signed 13 agricultural trade agreements, which have opened up a large number of channels for Argentine agricultural products to be sold to the Chinese market; The Belgrano freight railway, which Chinese enterprises have participated in the transformation and upgrading, has effectively connected Argentina's inland provinces and port cities, and the efficiency of cargo transportation has been significantly improved; China and Argentina have been constantly strengthening financial cooperation, and the scale of local currency swap has steadily expanded... At the beginning of February 2022, China and Argentina signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly build the "the Belt and Road", which further the cooperation between China and Argentina, and more effectively and fully rely on the "the Belt and Road" framework to deepen cooperation in trade, investment and other fields. China-Arab friendly cooperation is speeding up in the direction of wide-ranging, high-quality and sustainable development.

Further deepening of economic and trade relations

China is Argentina's second largest trading partner (after Brasil) and Argentina's second largest export destination. The signing of the "the Belt and Road" Memorandum of Understanding further consolidated the institutional cooperation on the basis of the original economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and promoted the further deepening of the economic and trade relations between the two countries.

After the outbreak of the COVID-19, the Argentine economy continued to be depressed, and was plagued by high inflation, high debt and high unemployment, which greatly hampered the pace of economic recovery. To participate in the construction of the "the Belt and Road", Argentina relies on the framework of the "the Belt and Road" to carry out cooperation in trade, investment and other fields, boost Argentina's exports by taking advantage of the consumption potential of the Chinese market, and promote Argentina's economic recovery. According to customs statistics, in 2021, the import and export trade volume between China and Argentina was 17.804 billion US dollars; In 2022, the import and export trade volume of the two countries has risen to 21.362 billion US dollars.

Jointly build the "the Belt and Road" to promote the further development of China Arab practical economic and trade cooperation in various fields, especially in the digital economy, green development and other fields to strengthen investment cooperation. For example, in the field of digital economy, Argentina's cross-border e-commerce platform Pampa Market has actively deployed the Chinese market in recent years, and has participated in the "Double 11" promotional activities of relevant platforms for consecutive years.

Infrastructure cooperation goes deeper and deeper

The signing of the memorandum of understanding accelerated the high-quality cooperation between China and Argentina to jointly build the "the Belt and Road". A number of new projects, such as nuclear power, roads, ports and new energy, have brought more development opportunities to Argentina. People's income has increased, food transportation is convenient, and residents enjoy cleaner and cheaper electricity... Many cooperation projects have landed in Argentina, bringing tangible benefits to the local people, and a number of infrastructure projects continue to "light up" new opportunities for China-Arab cooperation.

The Kisai hydropower project is a landmark project of China-Arab cooperation. In July 2014, China and Argentina signed a financing agreement for the Kisei hydropower project, marking the official entry into the implementation phase of the largest water conservancy project in Argentina's history. After the completion of the Kisei Hydropower Station, the average annual power generation will reach 4.95 billion kilowatt-hours, which is expected to meet the daily electricity consumption of 1.5 million Argentine households and save nearly 1.1 billion dollars of oil and gas import expenses for Argentina each year.

The reconstruction project of Belgrano freight railway (Beijing-Tibet Railway) undertaken by Chinese enterprises has officially started since 2014. The railway connects the inland and ports of Argentina. The railway transformation project has greatly improved the operation speed and stability of Argentine freight trains. High-quality soybeans, wheat, corn and other agricultural products are sold around the world through this railway. It is understood that the annual transportation volume of Beitie has increased significantly from 760000 tons in 2013 to 2.65 million tons at present.

The cooperation between China and Argentina in the field of new energy and green development has also been moving to new heights. In January of this year, the largest evaporation pond of Argentina's Yuyeako Salt Lake contracted by Chinese enterprises was put into operation. It is understood that the Yoyeako Salt Lake Project will be commenced in May 2022. After completion, the project will not only play an important role in promoting the green recycling industry and the comprehensive conservation and utilization of resources, but also play an important role in further promoting Argentina's resource advantages and promoting the high-quality development of lithium battery industry.

Expansion of local currency swap cooperation

At present, China and Afghanistan have close cooperation in local currency exchange, encourage both sides to use more local currency settlement in trade and investment, and facilitate enterprises of both countries to reduce exchange costs and exchange rate risks.

The Argentine Central Bank said at the beginning of the year that Argentina and China had formally expanded the currency swap agreement, which would enable Argentina to increase its depleted foreign exchange reserves. The Argentine Central Bank said in a statement: "This expansion of the currency swap agreement will strengthen the foreign exchange reserve of 130 billion yuan and will obtain an additional 35 billion yuan to compensate for the operation of the foreign exchange market." Previously, China and Argentina have signed the currency swap agreement five times, and the RMB has become an important foreign exchange reserve of Argentina.

In addition, in 2022, the Argentine Central Bank will establish a RMB clearing mechanism. After the launch of the RMB clearing bank service, enterprises and financial institutions of both countries can directly use RMB for cross-border transactions, which not only injects new impetus into the high-quality and sustainable development of China-Arab economic and trade cooperation, but also plays a positive role in the cross-border use of RMB in Argentina and the whole Latin América region.

Argentina not only participated in the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road", but also submitted an application to join the BRICS cooperation mechanism. In the future, China and Afghanistan will have great potential in enhancing cooperation in various fields. The two countries will jointly create beautiful business cards in more fields to achieve common development and prosperity.