In the past weeks, the new argentine Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, Diego Ramiro Guelar, held several meetings with senior chinese officials, ambassadors accredited in Beijing, businessmen, diplomats, and military and agricultural advisors.

In the context of these meetings, the Ambassador received a warm welcoming from the chinese political leadership, alongside with tokens of appreciation to the new Argentine authorities; he also picked up the high expectations of local leaders on deepening bilateral relations that is expected to take place in this new period.

Among other definitions, Guelar stated: "We have an extraordinary opportunity to build –together- the more fertile and important period in the history of bilateral relations. From now on, we have the responsibility of laying the foundations for a structural relationship, more mature and profound, long-term, beyond any political sign".

The Ambassador also expressed his satisfaction with the meeting between President Mauricio Macri and Xi Jinping, in which it was "demonstrated that Argentina no longer thinks its partnerships in terms of blocks, ideological affinities or circumstantial needs marked by emergency situations or ephemeral, but is presented as a country open to the world, as well as reasonable and foreseeable within a multipolar Global System Healthy."

 

Tourism and Cooperation

As one of its priority objectives, and in addition to the effort of bringing closer both economies and promoting trade, investment and cooperation, Guelar presented his initiative regarding the expansion of chinese tourism in Argentina in the medium term, both through an intense promotion of national tourist attractions, as well as a more flexible migration regulation.

"In 2015, more than 100 million chinese tourists were traveling around the world, but the fraction of visitors received by Argentina was almost negligible in relative terms. We can and we must reverse this trend, to be attractive as a destination for chinese citizens ", he said.

Also, the head of the argentinean diplomatic mission stated that cooperation and exchange in the field of Defence between China and Argentina will be increased. Moreover, Guelar said that one of its objectives is to hierarchize the Counseling of Defence of the Argentine Embassy so that the armed forces are represented by the maximum range of each Force: a Brigadier, a General and an Admiral.

 

Culture and Media

At the cultural level, the Embassy will revamp its agenda of activities, which will highlight the coincidence with the cultural Year of China - Latin America and the Caribbean, a proposal of President Xi Jinping himself in order for China to gain greater importance and international visibility. In this context, the cultural section of the Diplomatic representation will provide an intense program that will bring closer the chinese people to the artistic expressions of our country.

"The Cultural Approach is a priority as it is the basis for both countries understand and respect, to dissipate any fears that may exist regarding the differences in our customs. Furthermore, the commercial exchange, the joint policy, investments, among other objectives, will be enhanced by a better mutual cultural understanding, "said Guelar.

In that regard, he requested the authorities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Communist Party to analyse the possibility of inviting a greater amount of argentine journalists and opinion leaders to visit China, with the idea of removing certain preconceptions and to report from the direct experience and first-hand information. He argued that "the perception of public opinion about China is sometimes distorted by press coverage that repeat, in an uncritically manner, concepts that are spread in international media aimed to affect China; we have to bring our communicators to see for themselves the extraordinary economic and political process taking place in this country."

In front of the diplomatic member of the mission, and military and agricultural advisors, Ambassador Guelar called to redouble efforts and achieve synergies between the different sections that will allow them to manage the bilateral relationship from an integrative perspective.