BUENOS AIRES — China and Argentina will strengthen bilateral ties and deepen cooperation in a wide range of areas, visiting Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua and Argentine President Mauricio Macri said in a meeting on March 20.

Hu conveyed President Xi Jinping’s warm greetings and good wishes to Macri. Hu said President Xi attaches great importance to the development of China-Argentina relations and sent him to attend the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation and visit Argentina.

Hu also extended congratulations to Macri on the successful plenary session held on the morning of March 20.

Hu pointed out that China appreciates Argentina’s support for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and is willing to discuss specific cooperation projects with Argentina and expand pragmatic cooperation in areas like infrastructure, agriculture, energy and mining.

Hu welcomed the active participation of Argentina to the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing in late April.

He said that China is willing to strengthen cooperation with developing countries and attaches importance to the dialogue and cooperation with the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), a regional bloc that currently has four full members, namely, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and is aimed at promoting free trade and the free flow of capital, labor and goods.

It is hoped that Argentina would take the opportunity of holding the rotating presidency of Mercosur in the first half of 2019 to support the dialogue and cooperation with China in facilitating free trade, Hu added.

For his part, Macri said he attaches great importance to the friendship and mutual trust with President Xi.

Macri said Argentina is willing to jointly further strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries and deepen bilateral cooperation in trade, infrastructure, nuclear power, tourism and civil aviation.

Argentina supports the BRI and hopes that more Chinese companies will increase their investment in Argentina in areas such as agriculture, said Macri.

He said Argentina is willing to further promote dialogue and cooperation between Mercosur and China as well as deepen South-South cooperation, which refers to the technical cooperation among developing countries.

Hu also met with Marcos Pena, the head of the cabinet of ministers on March 20. The two sides exchanged views on pragmatic cooperation in the fields of agricultural development, nuclear power, fishery industry and science and technology.