Malcorra met with Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra and her counterpart for the Kingdom of Belgium, Didier Reynders, held a work meeting today at the Palacio San Martín, during which they addressed different aspects of the relations between the two countries and their regional blocs.

“We signed a memorandum of understanding in order to start our political dialogue,” stated Malcorra during the press conference offered by the two Ministers after the bilateral meeting, adding that: “The work meeting was a very interesting opportunity to explore the different options to work jointly in the economic, trade and investment fields.”

Malcorra further stated: “We are about to establish a joint committee in order to do a follow-up of economic issues. We hope to finalize it soon, when we meet at the General Assembly” that will take place in September at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The Argentine Foreign Minister extended an invitation, through the Belgian Minister, “for Belgian businesspersons to participate in the Investment Forum that will be held in September, at which we expect to present through a one-stop shop the Government investment plans for the next four years.”

In turn, Reynders stated the following: “We are pleased to start a more intense relationship between our two countries with the execution of this memorandum, which we expect will continue to give us the chance to focus on our economic relations.”

“We will seek progress at the bilateral level,” noted the Belgian Foreign Minister, adding that: “We will bring trade missions to Argentina. We are currently participating in several fields in the country, although we do specialize in certain areas. Argentina has a considerable plan for investments in infrastructure, which covers several fronts: routes, highways, port facilities, etc. We are interested in participating in the entire process with several companies. The same applies to the energy field: we are aiming at a type of development that includes the use of renewable energy and different types of novel facilities, as well as green technologies.”

“There is a lot we can do at the bilateral level, and this includes cultural activities, as well as research and student exchanges. Argentina has great universities and there is interest in working at this level too,” stated the Belgian Foreign Minister. He then added: “I am impressed by how Argentina has rapidly focused on its reinsertion into the international community. We have seen that several visits have been made to Argentina, and we believe it is very important to say we are present here too. We are very interested in doing more, and not only in connection with our typical favourite products, such as chocolate and beer. We will probably organize new trade missions with very specific agendas, in order to identify possibilities of generating added value.”

With respect to the agenda of the two blocs, Reynders stated the following: “It is important to highlight that we are in favour of a better relationship between Mercosur and the EU. We will try to press the EU to move towards this. I know this is a difficult task on both sides, but we are very pleased to make this attempt to open a door for discussions of a broader scope. Some matters have been specially requested by Argentina and others, by some European countries. We have a very positive attitude towards the possibility of making progress in this respect.”

Press Release No. 262/16
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