China, Argentina to advance strategic partnership: ambassador

China and Argentina are expected to sign a series of cooperation deals during Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit, says China's ambassador in Buenos Aires. [Special coverage]

Xi and his Argentine counterpart, Cristina Kirchner, will witness the signing of the deals, which will cover investment, infrastructure and finance, among others, Yin Hengmin told reporters.

During their meeting, Xi and Kirchner will exchange views on bilateral ties and international and regional issues of common concern, and Xi will also meet other Argentine leaders, Yin said.

The two sides will hold a dialogue on economic cooperation and strategic coordination, and Chinese business leaders will hold a forum on economy and trade with their Argentine counterparts, added the ambassador.

Yin said he believes Xi's visit will help the two countries blueprint the future development of bilateral relations, promote steady growth of bilateral trade, boost cooperation in a wide range of areas, and consolidate their partnership.

Since China and Argentina forged diplomatic ties 42 years ago, the two nations have conducted frequent high-level exchanges, deepened political mutual trust, reaped tangible fruits in economic and trade cooperation, boosted people-to-people exchanges and broadened mutual understanding, Yin said.

China and Argentina have become good partners on the basis of mutual trust, equality and mutual benefit, he said, adding that the bilateral relationship is at an important phase as this year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Argentina strategic partnership.

Bilateral trade reached 14.84 billion dollars in 2013, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, Yin said.

China is Argentina's second largest trade partner, No. 1 destination of agro-product exports, and third largest source of investment, while Argentina is China's fifth largest trade partner in Latin America and third largest source of agro-product imports in the world, he added.

The win-win cooperation between China and Argentina has brought real benefits to the Argentine people thanks to the fruitful bilateral cooperation in investment, energy, infrastructure, finance and telecommunications, said the ambassador.