After two stopovers on the brand new presidential planeone in Valencia and another in Kazakhstan In the middle of Central Asia to refuel, Sergio Massa and his entourage arrive tomorrow Tuesday at 12 in Shanghai, at 23 this Monday in Buenos Aires.
They will stay at the Westin, crowned with a lotus flower sculpture and a few blocks from the waterfront of this city, called the Paris of Asia and looking towards Pudong with beautifully lit and unusually shaped buildings express 21st century China and which seems to be regaining strength after a long pandemic that has put in Doubt his ability to fight back.
Massa, together with the Energy Secretary Flavia Royón and the head of Enarsa, Agustín Gerez, are asking Chinese banks for a concrete commitment to finance the second section of the Néstor Kirchner pipeline. Sources in the delegation suggest that talks have already begun request US$ 2,800 million which will allow energy savings of US$ 3,000 million only in that case.
“Pay yourself”, assure those accompanying the Minister of Economy, hoping that the Chinese will give the ok. Have indications after shipments of folders with the environmental impact study, passage permits for the pipeline route and technical feasibility. But you already know: With the Chinese you should never take anything for granted. according to diplomats with long experience in the Asian giant.
According to economic calculations, there would be a total savings of US$8.7 billion. It seems like a mirage, but when the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline is ready, the 573-kilometre pipeline built in a record 9 months and inaugurated on 20 June, $4.2 billion in imports would be avoided per year. Added to this are the expansion and the so-called Northern pipeline, which consists of the inversion which implies that, instead of importing gas from Bolivia, the gas from Vaca Muerta is sent through the same pipeline to the northwestern provinces and that there are other US$ 1,500 million for Argentina. In this case there is already a loan from CAF for 800 million.
The Néstor Kirchner extension is put out for tender in July and results in import savings of US$3,000 million. “We will go back to self-sustaining gas and generate foreign currency from exports”, they enthuse near Massa.
They also search unlock investment for southern dams. For this reason, the first meeting will be the China Gezhouba Group Corporation, the visible face of the dams on the Santa Cruz River, after the decline in the participation of Eling, the former electrical engineering company.
With Power China, the meeting will have a battery of projects with financing as a common thread. Other meetings are with CET – Rete Statale, in which the objective of expanding the electricity transmission system will be tackled.
As for lithium, a huge Chinese interest is assumed. The delegation will meet with Tibet Summit Resources to develop this mineral together with other companies. And they anticipated that there is vocation to deploy new investments in the country, given the quality of lithium.
Some of these can be seen on the long journey from Shanghai airport to the city center: there are countless electric cars from Chinese companies and especially the Elon Musk’s Tesla carrying Catamarca’s lithium in its batteries and reveal, in turn, the high purchasing power of a part of the country that it has 40 million millionaires, almost an Argentina.
they move on highways that have up to seven different levels and running through apartment buildings with towers that seem to be drawn from one another.
By the way, the boom in sales of electric vehicles is driving the Chinese auto industry, which, with its characteristic imperial vocation, wants to surpass its Western rivals. The latest available data indicate that sLast March, 596,000 units of electric and hybrid cars were sold, 132% more than in 2022. An estimated 5.5 million units will be shipped to China in 2023. Currently, 10.1 million hybrid and electric cars are already circulating on its roads. They are needed: air pollution is still very high.
Source: Clarin
