Judging from three seminars held over the past several weeks between high-level leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and businessmen and political leaders of Argentina’s Justicialista (Peronist) Party (PJ), Argentina’s entry into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is not long off. Should it join, it will be the largest Ibero-American economy to do so, as neither Mexico nor Brazil has joined. The Argentine Congress is also expected to soon approve the country’s entry into the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Former President Mauricio Macri agreed to this in 2017, but never submitted the proposal to the Congress for a vote.
On Aug. 18, the PJ concluded the last of three virtual seminars, which began in June, with top CCP and Peronist leaders as well as leading businessmen and government officials, to discuss the BRI, as well as how Argentina might emulate China’s successful poverty-reduction and economic development policies. According to Telam, Sen. Jorge Taina, former Foreign Minister and now head of foreign affairs for the PJ, announced during the final webinar that former President, now Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is fully behind Argentina joining the BRI. President Alberto Fernández has stressed the importance of his country’s strategic partnership with China—he has developed a close working relationship with Xi Jinping and may travel to China in early November on the occasion of the Shanghai-based China International Import Expo (CIIE), a visit that would certainly include a meeting with Xi Jinping.
