The Argentine Transport Minister on Monday invited Chinese firms to play a role in his country’s plan to overhaul the transport system by installing new plants and aiding with finance and technology.

Guillermo Dietrich, who was on an official visit to China this week, expressed his intentions before the press after a seminar on development opportunities of transport infrastructure in Argentina, which was organized in Beijing.

The Argentine government led by Mauricio Macri plans to remodel the country’s transport system by 2019 with a budget exceeding $33 billion.

Dietrich described the overhaul as the “most important” in Argentina’s history.

This plan, said the minister, will be accompanied by a series of measures to reduce bureaucracy, with the aim of bringing down transportation costs in order to improve the country’s competitiveness and attract foreign investment.

Urban mobility programs (with an allocation of some $14 billion) and widening of the highways network (another $12.5 billion) feature in Dietrich’s plan, which will also be presented in Japan towards the end of the week.

With an eye on Buenos Aires’ plans to improve ports, airports and goods trains, the transport minister also urged the Chinese firms to move a step ahead and set up a base in the country.

“We hope that Chinese companies not only sell products to Argentina but also install (factories) and manufacture products here and export to the region,” Dietrich said.

He added that sharing of technology between the countries should become fundamental and more extensive.

The minister also said that Chinese firms could contribute towards financing infrastructure programs in his country.

Date: September 26, 2016

Source: http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2421792&CategoryId=14093