Ambassador: G20 boosts multilateralism

The G20 Leaders' Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is expected to bolster an international consensus on upholding multilateralism to promote sustainable development of the world's economy, a senior Argentine diplomat said.

"Without multilateralism, it's impossible to defend the idea of sustainable development," Argentine Ambassador to China Diego Ramiro Guelar said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

Against a backdrop of challenges from unilateralism and protectionism, leaders of the G20 countries are meeting on Friday and Saturday in the Argentine capital.

There is a close relationship between multilateralism and sustainable development, Guelar said. "This is especially true for small and medium-sized countries. We desperately need multilateralism to defend our interests."

Argentina, which holds the presidency of the G20 in 2018, wants to use the summit to send a clear message that the multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at the core, must be upheld, he said.

Since its inception, the G20 has aimed to consolidate multilateralism to make it an effective international forum for policy coordination, Guelar added.

The ambassador said while a few countries might be against multilateralism, he had no doubt the general consensus will prevail at the summit.

The G20's membership consists of 19 countries plus the European Union. Collectively, the G20 economies account for around 85 percent of the gross world product, 80 percent of world trade (or, excluding intra-EU trade, 75 percent), two-thirds of the world population and approximately half of the world's land area.

"We need a multipolar world with powers shared by various countries as we have common goals and a common agenda that is very important, such as poverty reduction, environmental protection, climate change, international terrorism and drug trafficking," Guelar said. "Those general goals have to be handled through negotiations and cooperation between various sources of regional power."

He hailed China's initiatives of Belt and Road construction and building a community with a shared future for mankind. "There are debates about the initiatives, and I believe that, finally, people will understand the initiatives are positive and have a strong element of a win-win approach," he said.

Guelar praised the development of relations between Argentina and China, saying there are strong complementarities in the countries' economies, and win-win outcomes for cooperation, with priorities focused on agribusiness, minerals and infrastructure.

"Argentina produces grain, meat and fish to meet China's needs for food imports, and we have the mineral resources that are needed by China," he said. "China has technologies and financing to help us build infrastructure."

Bilateral trade reached $13.8 billion last year, registering an increase of 12.1 percent year-on-year. China is Argentina's third-largest trading partner.

The ambassador said the two countries are expected to ink new cooperation agreements during President Xi Jinping's state visit to Argentina, which looks forward to strengthening ties with China.