Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez (right). Photo courtesy TASS.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez will ink a deal to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership in addition to signing 20 cooperation agreements during a meeting at the Kremlin on Thursday, Russia’s TASS news agency reports.
Russia and Argentina will sign a document which is geared to raise the level of bilateral relations, Russian president’s aide Yuri Ushakov said, adding that the new status of relations between the two countries would be confirmed by a package of documents prepared for signing.
Among the documents to be signed include an agreement between the two countries’ defence ministers that sets parameters and basic guidelines of bilateral military cooperation, in addition to other agreements in sectors such as industry, agriculture, energy, culture, space research, investment, and banking.
The presidential aide said that energy-related issues would be a vital topic for discussion at the negotiations between the two presidents.
Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom is expected to sign a memorandum with its Argentinian colleagues which will open possibilities for Russia to build nuclear plants in Argentina. Ushakov noted that Rosatom was interested in the construction of the sixth unit of the Atucha nuclear power plant in Argentina.
“Argentina uses Russian equipment to generate more than 20% of electric energy. Cooperation with Russia ranges from delivery of turbines to complete modernization of Argentinian hydropower plants,” Ushakov said.
The two presidents plan to sign a memorandum of understanding to implement a multi-purpose hydraulic power project ‘Chiuido-1’ in Argentina, Ushakov said, adding that the package included a memorandum of cooperation between Gazprom and Argentina’s National Corporation of Oil and Gas Deposits.
Ushakov said that prior to the signing of the statement, the president would have tête-à-tête talks followed by negotiations in an extended format. Among the topics of discussion will be cooperation in the economic, energy, military technical, and cultural-and-humanitarian sphere, he said.
“Our countries’ approaches to the majority of global problems are close or similar,” Ushakov said. “Argentina was among the co-authors of the resolution dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two. It calls to drop the use of double standards in settling international problems, not to support unilateral measures of sanction pressure.”
“As concerns Argentina’s dispute with the United Kingdom about the Falkland Island (Islas Malvinas), Russia supports Buenos Aires’ determination to begin direct talks with London,” Ushakov added.
According to Ushakov, special attention during the talks will be focused on the development of economic cooperation between Russia and Argentina, which is Russia’s number four trade partner in Latin America. In 2014, bilateral trade reached 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. More than 84% of Russia’s imports from Argentina are fruits and meat.
Discussion
No comments yet.