KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Bernama) — Argentina hopes to increase many exchanges with Malaysia in time to come not only in trade and investment but cultural as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expressing her hope to Bernama, Argentine Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship Minister Diana Mondino said both countries have ties for a long time but \u201cnot as intensive as it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mondino, who is here in Malaysia for her inaugural official visit, is expected to have a courtesy call on Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday (March 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is also expected to have a meeting with several ministers including her counterpart Datuk Mohamad Hasan and Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Mohamad Sabu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Describing diplomatic relations with Malaysia as \u201creally good\u201d, Mondino said: \u201cWe have an excellent (Malaysian) ambassador in Argentina while we have our ambassador here. He also has a lot of experience in this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat helps,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nur Azman Abdul Rahim is the current Ambassador of Malaysia to Argentina, while his Argentine counterpart here is Manuel Balaguer Salas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On top of that, Mondino expressed her admiration for Malaysia\u2019s robust infrastructure and economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c…we can grow our exports and we also hope we can attract investment or vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is my first time in Kuala Lumpur but have to congratulate what you have succeeded just in a few decades in growth. Argentina hopes to be able to do the same,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On her expectations towards a meeting with Anwar and her counterpart, Mondino said : \u201cFirst of all, I will assure them about our friendship. It is ever more important in this confusing world that we live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe also try on the multilateral agenda of many issues of the world. We can cooperate,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for her meeting with Mohamad Sabu, Mondino said it would be a \u201cvery important\u201d meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArgentina has greater agriculture production but it is complementary, not substitute of Malaysia. We produce corn, soya, wheat, sunflower seeds, and many others that are important for people’s food and animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are very effective and low-cost producers. We can share experiences. We produce our machinery that can be adapted maybe to Malaysia\u2019s crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo there are a lot of things that we possibly would be able to work together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Argentina\u2019s exports to Malaysia reached an all-time high in 2022 of about US$2 billion with main products such as corn, soybean meal, cereal meal, and pellets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the last 27 years, the exports of Argentina to Malaysia have increased at an annualised rate of 6.5 per cent, from US$350 million in 1995 to US$1.92 billion in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2022, Malaysia exported US$341 million to Argentina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked whether she hopes to see a balanced trade between the countries, Mondino \u2013 who is an economist by training \u2013 said : \u201cWe hope both can export more to the other but who exports more is not really relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can export a lot of commodities and at the same time, we have a lot of resources in oil and gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPetronas (Malaysia\u2019s national oil and gas company) has a lot of experience ..most probably they can help us Argentina a lot and at the same time make money for Petronas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Petronas has a presence in the South American nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stressing further, Mondino said lots of things could be done beyond trade between the two nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are a very big country. We have all the climate. We have resources of every kind (mainly) agriculture, oil and gas, and tourism. We can do a lot of things,\u201d said the minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile trade is important, other things can be exchanged such as cultural. Most people do not consider art or literature as something important but they are. It brings people together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
— BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Bernama) — Argentina hopes to increase many exchanges with Malaysia in time to come not only in trade and investment but cultural as well. Expressing her hope to Bernama, Argentine Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship Minister Diana Mondino said both countries have ties for a long time but \u201cnot as intensive as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,288,286,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258105"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=258105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258110,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258105\/revisions\/258110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=258105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=258105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=258105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}