Government restores Argentine integration into BRICS bloc along with China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa

In cooperation with Brazil, China and Russia, the Government is reviving an old plan to Argentina join that block of the emerging powers that in 2006 armed the so -called BRICs along with India. And along with South Africa, they continued to build the BRICS, and always had the idea of ​​doing so political and economic balance in the United States.

This Saturday night, the ambassador to Beijing, Sabino Vaca Narvajareported that Argentina will participate in the next summit of BRICS presidents and foreign ministers, scheduled roughly between June 20 and 24, in which Alberto Fernández and Santiago Cafiero will participate along with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Jair Bolsonaro and the other leaders.

Fernández and Cafiero began another trip to Spain and Germany this week. And in the first week of June they will travel to Los Angeles to participate in the Summit of the Americas, where Joe Biden seeks to impose an agenda against Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which are already dividing the waters. For starters, the government is opposed.

The Bolsonaro government has done the same recently due to a trip by the Minister of Economy Martin Guzman to Brasilia, his former rival, Minister Paul Guedesannounced that it will present Argentina as a candidate to enter the New Development Bank (NDB) of the group of countries that make up the BRICS, an entity with billions of dollars used in infrastructure works.

To date, Brazil has not taken such action, and it is happening within the framework of the non -existent relationship between Bolsonaro and Fernández, who are betting on Lula da Silva as a candidate.

Participation in the BRICS summit came at Xi Jinping’s invitation to Alberto F., who, in turn, during his visit to Beijing from February 4 to 6, told the Chinese president that he wanted Argentina within the BRICS. He also spoke with Vladimir Putin during his special visit to Moscow on February 3, when tensions in Ukraine were already heating up.

It also came at a delicate moment due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which lasted more than two months and in which, although the Government joined in international condemnations against Vladimir Putin’s violent actions, He does not agree with sanctions or with Russia’s secession, as advocated by the United States and some Europeans. Nor to its exclusion in the G20.

For that matter, Argentina’s participation in the BRICS virtual summit, where Putin should speak it’s taking position. On the other hand, as this newspaper found out, no directive has been imposed on Argentine diplomats and officials at the internal and external levels so that they can participate in any activity conducted by the Russians for this Monday, May 9, when they commemorate the day of the Victory of Soviet forces against the Nazis in World War II.

In this sense, the ambassador to Moscow, Eduardo Zuaín, He will participate in the celebrations to which he is called.

an old longing

“This year, China is leading the BRICS and a summit is being called, today, on May 20, by foreign ministers; also a summit of presidents for June 24. They will be virtual summits because of the restrictions that “China, along with the BRICS member. So far, the only Latin American country that has been formally invited to participate is Argentina,” Ambassador Vaca Narvaja told the official Télam agency last Saturday.

This is not the first time Kircherism has shown interest in an agenda leading to the country’s entry into the BRICS. Mauricio Macri also attended his meetings, which showed state interest that did not really thrive.

To begin with, economic differences between BRICS members are deepening. China can no longer be considered emerging if it is considered to be the second world power behind the United States.

Since its creation in 2006 and its first meeting in 2009, BRICS members have had increasing participation in the global economy – it is claimed that in the last decade they have contributed more than 50% of world growth – but this will not be the case of Argentina.

The positive thing is that the growing relationship between Argentina and China and the economic cooperation between Argentina and Brazil will be favorable factors for this integration.

Regarding the agenda in China, Vaca Narvaja told Telam that there is now some integrated working mechanism.

One is the strategic dialogue for coordination and economic cooperation on projects such as the fourth nuclear power plant, the gas pipelines, the dam (of the Santa Cruz River, by Jorge Cepernic-Néstor Kirchner dam) and railway projects, in addition to the Cerro Arauco wind farm (La Rioja), the Caucharí photovoltaic park (Jujuy), the largest in all of Latin America, and the rehabilitation of the San Martín (Railway) of Belgrano Cargas. They all rely on the Chinese Silk Road initiative, which Argentina has already joined.

The second mechanism has to do with everything that contributes to the increase of Argentina’s exported offer: the issue of tariffs, the opening of new products And Vaca Narvaja said that they work in electronic commerce.