Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Argentine counterpart Mauricio Macri shakes hands at the signing ceremony of a joint statement following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on January 23, 2018. (KREMLIN PHOTO)
MOSCOW, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and visiting Argentine President Mauricio Macri agreed on Tuesday to strengthen bilateral cooperation in a wide range of fields including trade, economic, investment, high technologies and humanitarian, a joint statement said.
"The comprehensive strategic partnership was fully consolidated...We agreed with Argentine President to continue systemic efforts to develop trade and investment ties. This should be closely dealt with by the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic and Scientific and Technical Cooperation," Putin said at a press conference after talks with Macri.
According to the Russian president, the joint statement includes a number of important agreements on expanding cooperation in such key areas as economic and foreign policy, as well as military-technical, cultural-humanitarian cooperation and others.
The two leaders confirmed their intention of building up cooperation in the fields of energy, railway infrastructure, mining, agro-industry industry, medical technology, outer space and so on.
In particular, major Russian state companies are planning to invest in important projects in Argentina, including the proposal of building a nuclear power plant by Russia's state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom and the potential connection of Russia's state railway operator Russian Railways with the program of modernizing railways in Argentina, Putin said.
During the talks, Putin and Macri reaffirmed the importance of an open, transparent, non-discriminatory and inclusive multilateral trading system based on rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and agreed to continue cooperation within the framework of the Group 20, the statement said.
The two leaders also emphasized their intention to continue work aimed at the earliest conclusion of a memorandum on cooperation on trade and economic issues between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the governments of the states participating in the South American Common Market in order to expand trade and investment.
Argentina is one of Russia's leading trade partners in Latin America. In January-November 2017, trade turnover between the two countries increased by 3.1 percent.