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Ramy Salama
Doha
THE visit of the Emir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani to Argentina last month has consolidated cooperation between the two countries, according to the Ambassador of Argentina to Qatar HE Rossana Surballe.
A number of important agreements were signed resulting in bolstering trade and investment, the ambassador told Qatar Tribune in a recent interview.
"The visit [by HH the Emir] was very important to us. It was a special moment for us in Argentina. On July 9, our country celebrated the 200th anniversary of its independence, and we are currently involved in very important developmental programmes for our country in which we count on Qatar's support," she said.
The ambassador added,"The level of dialogue between the two leaders, HH the Emir and our President Mauricio Macri, was very candid. They addressed many issues within our bilateral relations. We feel that this visit was successful and it has opened, I think, very interesting perspectives on consolidating our cooperation."
Notably, three major agreements were signed during the visit. The first dealt with high-level foreign ministry consultations. The others were an agreement concerning cooperation in the legal field and diplomatic sphere."We've been working for a long time on finalising these three agreements, and fortunately, we were able to sign them," she further said.
"The agreements signed focus specifically on the political dimension of our bilateral relations. One is an agreement on bilateral consultation, a framework by which the two countries' vice ministers of foreign affairs can meet to review and enhance all the aspects of the bilateral relationship. We also signed an agreement regarding cooperation on legal issues. It was signed by the justice ministers of the two countries. The third agreement governs cooperation between the diplomatic institutes," the ambassador explained.
HH the Emir's visit also served to boost cooperation in the economic sphere with focus on investments by Qatar in Argentina's agribusiness, renewable resources and mining industries."The idea was to begin with three or four specific projects in order to continue towards increasing our cooperation in trade and investment."
"During the visit, we discussed specific areas in which Qatar would be interested to invest. Agribusiness tops the list given that Argentina is one of the most important food producers in the world, and we think we can contribute to Qatar's national programme for food security. Also, Qatari officials expressed interest in investing in Argentina's renewable resources sector, and in mining. Argentina is very rich in mineral resources," she said.
The two countries are continuing to work towards closer cooperation in the areas of education and sports. The ambassador concluded,"We need to continue to work together in the fields of education and sports. We have made progress towards some agreements in these sectors, and negotiations are still on. Soon, we will sign agreements in these sectors as well."
