The Argentinean transport ministry seeks to bring in Chinese investments in passenger and goods wagons and to start construction on the 862 million US dollar railway infrastructure. Argentina is also looking for ways to facilitate direct Chinese investments in Yuan, which would hasten project funding and broaden China’s influence in South America.
Chinese and Argentinian authorities have met recently to discuss issues relating to rail transport. In order to explore two different investments, the Argentine transport minister Diego Giuliano met with the Chinese firms CITIC Construction (CITIC) and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC).
Conversations with CITIC focused on agreements from 2014 for the provision of passenger and freight wagons as well as the creation of a Chinese firm locomotive workshop in Argentina.
Argentina is prepared to resume infrastructure investment relations with China in the context of the BRI project.
On the other side, Giuliano and CEMEC talked about the potential for releasing a different earlier contract from 2006 about the start of railway works that will cost 862 million US dollars. The minister did not disclose, however, to which projects these activities are related; in any event, they represent a considerable investment.
Argentina is prepared to resume infrastructure investment relations with China in the context of the BRI project, and the nation also has plans to join China’s global list of strategic allies. “We are working on a cooperation agreement,” Giuliano added in order to accomplish this. It is straightforward for Argentina to improve its business ties with China. The nation wants China to directly invest in its economy using the Yuan, which is its currency.
In this way, the nation hopes to both expedite ongoing infrastructure expenditures and pave the path for more ones in the future.
Argentina is the most recent member of the BRI, which currently includes 21 of the 33 nations in Latin America.
It is not news that China is replacing the US and Europe as a trading and investment partner in South and Latin America, where its influence is expanding. Argentina is the most recent member of the BRI, which currently includes 21 of the 33 nations in Latin America.
A European External Measures Service (EEAS) document that was released last year cautioned that the EU should immediately take measures to reestablish its regional influence by launching additional projects as a consequence of China’s expanding influence in the area
Although they both benefit—the first by gaining access to resources and raw materials and establishing its international position, and the second by receiving cashflows that support its economy’s recovery and development—this does not appear to be impeding the strengthening of ties between China and regional states like Argentina.
