The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Argentina, Dmitry Feoktistov, invited Argentina to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Moscow despite the sanctions imposed on the 137th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In the text sent to the authorities of the South American country, the ambassador recalls that October 22 marks the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Argentina.
An essential aspect of these relations is part of a comprehensive strategic partnership in trade and economic exchange, Feoktístov emphasized.
The trade balance between Argentina and Russia reached 1.3 billion dollars in 2021, but “today there is some uncertainty in this area due to the efforts of the United States and the EU. [European Union] to isolate Russia from its external partners”, admitted the diplomat.
“The pressure on our country is unprecedented; the largest industrial enterprises and entire sectors of the national economy have been sanctioned”, while “major banks have been prevented from trading in the dollar and euro” and “a significant part of Russia’s gold and currency reserves have been frozen”, he said. .
sanctions
The withdrawal of Western companies from Russia resulted in $60 billion in losses.
This was complicated by an energy crisis that forced them to turn to coal and oil and abandon their carbon neutrality goals.
Such penalties “further undermine the credibility of the dollar and the euro,” he said.
“As a result, the current crisis will lead to the formation of a new global financial order, based not on fiat money, but on commodity currencies, the value economy and real assets,” he said.
In this sense, the US and the EU are “destroying the foundations on which they have built their global dominance and showing that the services of Western capital come with significant risks.”
In parallel, “exports of various types of machinery, as well as consumer goods to Russia, have been banned.”
]In contrast, “the supply of Russian goods continues to be subject to restrictions, including outright bans and tariff freezes, up to initiatives to set a price cap for oil and gas.”
By closing ports and airspace and cutting land links, “the West tried to push Russia into a transport blockade,” the diplomat said.
This situation led some “friendly countries to reduce or suspend many joint projects with Russian partners for fear of so-called ‘secondary’ sanctions,” Feoktistov said.
Despite these difficulties, Russia managed to maintain the stability of its financial institutions and the strength of the ruble after its collapse in February.
The country also managed to curb inflation, which peaked in May, direct its exports to new markets and replace Western imports with supplies from other countries or increase production.
“Technological exchange is also possible beyond the US and the EU, and the foundation laid in recent decades suggests that key high-tech industries of the national economy will be self-sufficient,” the ambassador said.
CoopeRation
In this context, Feoktístov noted his country’s experience in implementing large infrastructure, energy, technology, space, health and digitization projects.
As he did with the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, he provided Argentina with the technology needed to produce the drug. He assured that his country is also ready to share its knowledge in other fields.
“In recent years, the foundations have been laid for the joint realization of many important projects; Today, we must not lose what we have achieved so far and decide how to smoothly continue these plans in the interest of the people of our countries”, he concluded.
At the end of July, the Russian ambassador warned that the sanctions against his country contributed to the worsening of the international crisis caused by the increase in food prices.
Diplomatic relations between Argentina and Russia have the character of a comprehensive strategic partnership based on the joint declaration signed in Moscow in 2015 by then president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015) and Vladimir Putin.
