April 27, 2024 (EIRNS)—Sabino Vaca Narvaja, who served as Argentina’s ambassador in Beijing from April 2021 to Dec. 10, 2023, has just completed a working trip to five Chinese cities, during which he discussed exciting plans for continued bilateral cooperation among academic, cultural and communication institutions, despite President Javier Milei’s insulting and offensive behavior toward China’s leaders. Notable too was his meeting in Shanghai with the president of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), Dilma Rousseff, and other NDB personnel, to discuss the its possible involvement in development projects and investments in the province of Buenos Aires—Argentina’s largest and most economically important—whose Peronist Gov. Axel Kicillof had previously discussed this in a Zoom meeting with Rousseff.
According to Noticias Urbanas April 26, the NDB meeting also discussed a proposal to establish an office in Brazil to promote development programs for Ibero-American governors and mayors. During his term, Ambassador Vaca Narvaja had organized aggressively for Argentina to join the BRICS and accompanied then-President Alberto Fernández at the signing ceremony at which he committed to joining the Belt and Road Initiative. A Sinologist and author of several books on China, Vaca Narvaja developed close relationships with the Chinese leadership and is widely respected.
Vaca Narvaja’s initiative is the leading edge of growing sentiment in Argentina—and in other Ibero-American countries whose governments have chosen to not join the BRICS (such as Mexico)—to organize support in the population for the economic policies of the BRICS, in some cases establishing “Friends of the BRICS” (“Amigos del BRICS”) organizing drives.
