Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with his Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri who came to Hangzhou to attend the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Tao)
BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Interactions between China and Argentina are becoming continuously smoother, thanks to diverse cooperation in fields such as economic, industry, science and tourism, Argentinean experts, Cecilia Peralta and Nadia Radulovich have said.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, the two co-founders of the Asia Viewers research firm, expressed a positive outlook for China-Argentina relations, who will celebrate 45 years of diplomatic ties in February 2017.
"Relations between Argentina and Asia, in general, are in a new stage as their friendship and cooperation deepends. The state of the specific ties between China and Argentina can be seen by the exchanges of high officials," they emphasized.
"After the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, which Presidents Mauricio Macri and Xi Jinping both attended, Argentina has seen great coordination with China on topics of global economy and governance," Radulovich said.
"China is of great importance for our country," added the Asian expert, who sits with Peralta on the China Group of Argentina's Council for Foreign Relations (CARI).
Huawei's Argentinean marketing director Rodrigo Ubeda (L) delivers the first Y6 smartphone to Nicolas Alganaraz (C), at a store of the telecommunication giant of China, in Buenos Aires city, Argentina, on Sept. 30, 2016. (Xinhua/Martin Zabala)
Peralta highlights diverse cooperation in fields such as economic, industry, science and tourism, adding that the next few years "are very promising for China and Argentina can reach more concrete, mature and orderly cooperation."
In terms of why China has taken on a greater role as a partner to Argentina, the two observers said that "China is beginning to play a more significant role in the world, starting with its entry into the World Trade Organization. Interaction between both actions continue to become more fluid."
The Asia Viewers founders pointed that Macri is set to make an official state visit in 2017 and that the Argentinean ambassador to China, Diego Guelar, has been very active on issues like tourism and visas.
To boost the number of Chinese tourists to Argentina, which stood at around 30,000 last year, the country now allows Chinese travellers with valid U.S. and European visas to enter Argentina after filling out an online form, Argentina's Minister of Tourism, Gustavo Santos, told Xinhua in September.
Peralta and Radulovich now hope that the two sides will "strike a better trade balance and help to generate infrastructure investments to help Argentina's development plans. China is a great partner in this area."
