Growth trends offer fresh chances for LatAm

BUENOS AIRES－Trends in China's development offer rising opportunities to Latin American countries with ties to the Asian country, said Argentine-Brazilian academic Santiago Bustelo.

To make the most of bilateral ties, regional governments need "to understand the current stage of China's development process", said Bustelo, a research professor at the Argentina-China Studies Center of the University of Buenos Aires.

Today, China's development is marked by urbanization, middle-income group expansion, rising consumption, and trends that could potentially boost cooperation and trade through economic complementarity, especially between China and Argentina, Bustelo said in a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency.

"China's process of urbanization will continue to demand natural resources and promote the integration of the two economies," he said.

"In addition to the growth of major cities, internal migration from the countryside will spark the growth of medium-sized cities," said Bustelo, noting that Argentina could "take advantage of the huge opportunities that will arise in terms of extracting minerals, such as copper and lithium."

Given the right conditions between the two countries for exploring these ongoing changes, Argentina could not only continue to grow its exports to China, "but also diversify them", said Bustelo.

"In the food sector, we hope that the emergence of a new Chinese middle-income group generates opportunities for agricultural exports," he said.

China's growth coupled with a policy of further opening up its market to foreign goods generates concrete opportunities for countries like Argentina, Bustelo said, citing the recent second China International Import Expo held in Shanghai in November.

Looking ahead, "the Chinese people's expected rise in income will open up a series of opportunities in niche markets" for a range of Argentine products with high degrees of differentiation, including wine, sustainable goods, fashion, design and audiovisual production, said Bustelo.

"However, to spur this potential, Argentina needs a clear strategy for inserting itself" into the international market, Bustelo said.

While underscoring the strong cooperation that already exists between China and Argentina through numerous joint infrastructure projects, Bustelo said "it's true that in Argentina there is still a lot of ignorance about China, which sometimes leads to a lack of understanding of the opportunities and potential of having China as a strategic partner".

"I think both countries can work together to improve mutual understanding and create chances for dialogue, greater knowledge and cultural exchange," he added.