DHAKA, Bangladesh — Argentina’s International Minister Santiago Cafiero mentioned Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should cease and has not solely destabilized peace but in addition impacted costs in his nation.
“Latin America is a zone of peace, essentially the most densely populated zone of peace,” Cafiero advised The Related Press in an interview. “And we have now no army developments and no army infrastructure to take part in a conflict that we demand must be completed and shouldn’t proceed.”
He mentioned that Argentina had condemned Russia’s invasion from the onset “as a result of Argentina believes that the precept of territorial integrity was violated by Russia. Argentina has all the time had the identical message at worldwide boards.”
“What we want is peace and escalation will solely destroy … particularly in the case of creating lasting peace,” he mentioned.
Cafiero mentioned that the conflict, approaching the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted within the enhance in meals, fertilizer and power costs that had additionally impacted Argentina. “Regardless that we’re producers, the influence on costs, in fact, generated excessive inflation,” he mentioned.
He was in Dhaka to reopen Argentina’s Embassy as a gesture towards Bangladesh and its individuals who fervently assist Argentina within the World Cup. Soccer legends Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi are family names in Bangladesh, the place hundreds of Argentine flags are hoisted throughout the video games.
Argentina was one of many first international locations to acknowledge Bangladesh as a brand new nation after a nine-month conflict with Pakistan in 1971. Argentina opened its embassy in 1974, but it surely was closed by the army junta in Buenos Aires in 1977.
Argentina is seeking to increase commerce with Bangladesh, the thirty fifth largest and among the many prime 5 fastest-growing economies on the earth. Commerce quantity between Bangladesh and Argentina is presently beneath $1 billion.
“I imagine our commerce is presently beneath our mutual capacities. Regardless that there may be sure volatility, I imagine that primarily based on the mechanisms and agreements we have been in a position to set up right this moment … we’ll double commerce within the subsequent two to 4 years with Bangladesh,” Cafiero mentioned.
He mentioned Bangladesh may gain advantage from “nice alternatives” in South America by means of the regional financial bloc Mercosur, which covers 270 million folks. It will possibly additionally be taught from Argentina’s experience in nuclear know-how for medication, he mentioned.
“And we are able to additionally create joint ventures to learn our international locations and for different international locations as nicely. I imagine that know-how intensive corporations is an space wherein each Bangladesh and Argentina have lots to discover and lots to develop,” he mentioned.
Cafiero additionally met with the Bangladesh Soccer Federation and signed a memorandum of understanding on sports activities growth “to construct bridges with younger individuals who wish to apply sports activities and proceed to construct this relationship primarily based on the historical past of our nations.”
Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh’s junior international minister, mentioned on Monday that the reopening of Argentina’s Embassy will deepen relations between the international locations.
“Bangladesh is eager to increase its relations with Argentina, the main financial system in South America, in all attainable areas of collaboration in depth and dimension,” he mentioned, including that the international locations share a particular bond that goes past politics and diplomacy.