By Mansour Amer and Ahmed Gamal ABU DHABI, Matías Sebastián Kulfas, Minister of Productive Development of Argentina, said the UAE is the key international logistics and technology centre, noting there are promising opportunities for cooperation between the two countries.
In an interview with the Emirates News Agency (WAM), on the sidelines of the visit of an Argentinian delegation to the UAE, Kulfas stressed that the visit has acquired an added importance, as it coincides with Expo 2020 Dubai, which is witnessing the participation of some 192 countries.
He also highlighted the UAE’s success in organising a distinguished edition of the event, affirming that his country is one of the main exporters of food in the world, and the UAE is distinguished by its strategic location as a major centre for global trade.
He then highlighted his country’s keenness to strengthen its cooperation with the UAE in this strategic and vital sector, as well as the many opportunities for increasing trade between the two countries and encouraging mutual investments. There are many opportunities for cooperation in areas such as food, mining, clean energy and green hydrogen.
“Despite the challenges facing the world caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have managed to achieve a GDP of 10.3 percent in 2021, and we expect a 4 percent rise by the end of 2022,” Kulfas said, adding that industrial growth in Argentine was higher than in any other country except China last year.
He then talked about several promising sectors in Argentina, stressing that his country is the second-largest source of lithium in the world and has the third-largest reserves. The mining sector is one of the important sectors in his country, which also has one of the largest undiscovered copper reserves in the world, he further added.
Argentina is focussing on the energy sector, most notably wind energy, solar energy and clean energy, and is interested in the green hydrogen sector and the steel industry, he added, explaining it has the advantage of being able to develop a value chain for sustainable mobility.
Kulfas lauded the UAE’s significant efforts to address climate change and commended its initiative to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, as well as its hosting of COP28.
Source: Emirates News Agency
