MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cristina Fernandez hails 'strategic partnership' with China; blasts Argentine industry for mistrusting agreements

The president revealed that 102 Argentine companies and over 500 Chinese firms signed up for the business seminar.

President Cristina Fernandez expressed her satisfaction for the over 1,000 businessmen that attended the Argentinean-Chinese forum she presided in Beijing and praised the 'strategic partnership' with China. The president also rejected criticism voiced by the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) against her trip to China and the bilateral deals reached.

 Cristina Fernandez tweeted about her third day in China, when she presided the Argentine-Chinese Business Forum. She said that 102 Argentine companies and over 500 Chinese firmed signed up for the seminar. “Some of the Argentine companies arrived 2 weeks ago to close businesses across the different regions,” she wrote.

She went on with a couple of ironic tweets regarding the criticism voiced by UIA to her trip and the deals signed with China.

“Sorry. You know what? It is so ridiculous, so absurd that you can only process it with humor. Otherwise they are too toxic,” she said, before posting a tweet suggesting that the Chinese struggle to pronounce “rice”, “petroleum” and “Cámpora,” the Spanish name given to the Kirchnerite youth organization.

“More than 1,000 participants at the event... Are they all from the 'Campola' and in it only for the 'lice' and 'petloleum'?” Fernandez tweeted.

Argentine industrialists have expressed concern over the “lack of information” on the agreements between Buenos Aires and Beijing, questioning the absence of Argentine companies and workers on the infrastructure works financed by China.

“Don’t worry, we still defend the Argentine work and the businessmen’s role” wrote Cristina Fernandez. “Only someone politically-motivated or ignorant could think that the Argentine government would be willing to give up those things,” she added.

On Tuesday China ratified its intention to build Argentina’s fourth nuclear power plant, which is set to be finished eight years from now. Federal Planning Minister Julio de Vido signed an agreement with head of China Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) Nur Bekri to ratify the joint work of both countries in the construction of the plant.

The state-owned firm Nucleoeléctrica Argentina will be responsible for the construction and start-up of the project, while CNNC will provide goods, services and materials for local industry to build the supplies for the plant, 70% of which will be produced in Argentina.

The nuclear power plant will use a CANDU reactor, which works with pressurized water and natural uranium and is similar to one currently being used at another nuclear power plant. It will generate 800 megawatts and it will be built in the Nuclear Atucha Complex located in Lima, Buenos Aires province. The project’s cost is estimated at 2 billion dollars for supplies from abroad plus 32 billion pesos for works and local materials and is scheduled to be finished in eight years.

Addressing the businesspeople forum Cristina Fernández said the “strategic partnership” between Argentina and China is now “much more comprehensive” and said the alliance “isn’t the policy of the current government or our party but instead a state policy of Argentina”. At the same time, she highlighted the “knowledge” of the Chinese business leaders of the “business opportunities ”they have in Argentina”.

“Politics always trumps economics and that’s because the world is based on geopolitical issues and not just on the markets. That’s something Argentina and China agree on” said the Argentine leader. “New actors have taken leading roles because of this. China is the main one but Argentina is also an important one. Not only because of its human resources and economic wealth but also because it is free of conflicts.”