Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning!

It is my great pleasure to attend the Argentina Trade and Investment Opportunity Seminar. On behalf of the Ministry of Commerce, I would like to express my congratulations on the opening of the seminar as well as my sincere thanks to the sponsor, the Foreign Ministry of Argentina, for the warm invitation.

At present, bilateral relations between China and Argentina have been developing smoothly, and friendly cooperation in all areas achieved fruitful results. Especially in recent years the two sides have witnessed frequent exchanges of high-level official visits, and close exchanges between the governments and business communities of the two countries have effectively promoted the sound development of bilateral relations.

The fact that Secretary of State Koehler has brought to Beijing a high-level Argentine delegation, which consists of Argentina’s Minister of Agriculture, Secretary of State for Mining, the Governor of Rio Negro Province, as well as representatives from such areas as the financial sectors, transportation and infrastructure, fishery and energy industry of Argentina, shows that Argentina attaches great importance to deepening bilateral relations. Yesterday, on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce, I co-chaired the 18th Session of China-Argentina Joint Economic Committee with Secretary of State Koehler. It was a complete success, and extensive consensus was reached on promoting a sound economic relationship between the two countries. Today, we are holding the Argentina Trade and Investment Opportunities Seminar, which will be a good platform for promoting investment and trade environment of Argentina, encouraging Chinese enterprises to invest in Latin American, and boosting exchanges and cooperation between entrepreneurs of the two sides.

Today’s seminar is also an important follow-up of Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming’s visit to Argentina in May 2011, during which about a hundred entrepreneurs from such areas as energy, mining, automobiles, agriculture, infrastructure, technology, telecommunications, chemicals, grain and oil, electricity, finance and trade held a business luncheon with companies from Argentina, and many of them took the first step of cooperation. I believe that today’s seminar and the investment promotion activities to be held by the Argentine side in Shanghai will further create favorable conditions for enterprises of the two sides to enhance mutual understanding and strengthen communication. Through our joint efforts, Sino-Argentine economic cooperation will be raised to a new level, and more fruitful results will be achieved.

In recent years, Sino-Argentine economic relations have developed steadily with deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, and the two sides have become each other’s important trading partners. According to statistics by the Chinese side, bilateral trade in 2010 reached US$ 12.9 billion, up by 65.6% year-on-year, and has maintained a strong growth in first half of 2011. At present, China is the second largest trading partner of Argentina, and Argentina is the fourth largest trading partner of China in Latin America.

Meanwhile, we are pleased to see that investment cooperation between China and Argentina has been expanding, and Chinese enterprises in Argentina have made substantial progress in their investment in Argetina thanks to the joint efforts of the two governments. For example, China’s oil and gas resources development and exploration projects in Argentina are going smoothly, and Chinese enterprises are actively involved in the bidding of the projects of pipeline construction and nuclear power plants. Oil drilling services and oil trade also become new contents of bilateral cooperation. In addition, construction projects characterized with environmental protection have attracted Chinese investors. Chinese enterprises have actively participated in the Riachuelo River management project to which the Argentine government has attached great importance, and the two parties have signed the memorandum of understanding on the Riachuelo River dredging project. Fruitful achievements have also been made in transportation and infrastructure. According to the Argentine side, the value of the projects in those two areas under discussion by the two sides has reached US$ 15 billion. The Belgrano railway project on which the Argentine side places great emphasis has also achieved positive results thanks to the joint efforts of the two governments and related departments.

According to statistics available, China's investment and cooperation projects have created 5,800 jobs in Argentina and are expected to generate 4000 to 5000 more in the next three years as related cooperation projects are further implemented. It shows that economic and trade complementarities between China and Argentina are brought into full play, and thus we are full of confidence in the bright future of bilateral economic cooperation.

At the session of China-Argentina Joint Economic Committee held yesterday, the two parties had a wide range of in-depth exchange of views on cooperation in such areas as trade, investment, customs cooperation, agriculture, agricultural science and technology exchanges and quality inspection, and made plans for key work in the future. The two parties agreed that a sound and stable bilateral economic relationship is the key to promoting mutual investment and cooperation between enterprises of the two sides. The successful examples of Chinese investment in Argentina will build confidence of Chinese enterprises on Argentina’s investment environment, and will stimulate potential Chinese investors’ interest to carry out investment and cooperation in Argentina. To this end, the two parties agreed to conduct exchanges on two-way investment information sharing, and to make efforts to solve the problems and difficulties existing in two-way investment, so as to create the most suitable environment for bilateral investment cooperation.

2011 is the first year of China’s implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan. In the future five years, China will adopt a more proactive strategy of opening up, further explore new areas of opening up, and expand the convergence of interests with all parties. China will leverage the role of import in macroeconomic balancing and structural adjustment, and promote trade balance. In the next five years, China will endeavor to implement the “Going Global” strategy, guide enterprises to invest overseas, and carry out cooperation in projects that will help improve local infrastructure and people's livelihood.

Dear Friends, China will join hands with Argentina, take the high level bilateral visits and the 18th Joint Economic Committee as the opportunities and deepen cooperation so as to achieve a win-win outcome in economic globalization.

I want to thank the Argentine delegation again for traveling a long distance to China, and I wish the seminar a complete success!

Thank you!