Argentina will deepen ties with the Asian country, stimulated by Perón and interrupted by the dictatorship / Photo: AFP.
Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero will travel this Saturday to the city of Dacca, together with a delegation of businessmen, to carry out the opening of the Argentine Embassy in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
“Cafiero’s visit represents a significant event for Argentine geopolitics, since it is located at the crossroads of South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as the initial kick to expand bilateral trade with the eighth most populous country in the worldwith a market of more than 170 million inhabitants,” said a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
“Cafiero’s visit represents a significant event for Argentine geopolitics,” said the Foreign Ministry / Photo: Archive.
In this regard, he highlights the “importance of the visit because it is the first time that a South American foreign minister has attended Bangladesh, a nation with which we share half a century of diplomatic relations.”
The Foreign Ministry highlighted that Argentina was “one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Bangladesh, which declared its independence in March 1971 and was conquered over the next nine months. Tragic balance of millions of murdered and starving people”.
Maradona and Messi
“The rapprochement between the two peoples was deepened by the hand of soccer, particularly through the figure of Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup, with which the Bangladeshi people were strongly identified, for reasons, in part, linked to the past. colony of the Asian country”, recalls the Foreign Ministry text.
And he adds that “the idolatry for Maradona has now been reflected in Lionel Messi and became noticeable in the massive celebrations in the streets of Dacca after the Argentine team won the World Cup.”
Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi made the Bangladeshi people vibrate with the conquest of the World Cups in Mexico and Qatar / Photo: File.
Independence
The Foreign Ministry also points out that the “relationship between the two peoples has always been strengthened” and this “is evidenced, for example, in the trip of the Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore to Argentina in 1924 in which he established a friendship with the writer Victoria Ocampo”. .
“This visit – it is underlined – marked a milestone and deepened studies of the Asian subcontinent region In our country”.
The communiqué points out that, “later, in the framework of the war of independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Argentina played a very important role in the United Nations Organization to put an end to the conflict.”
“Our country was one of the first nations to recognize the fledgling People’s Republic of Bangladesh and in opening an Embassy in Dacca establishing diplomatic relations on May 25, 1972,” he asserted.
A historical link
The statement recalled that “General Juan Domingo Perón enabled the first diplomatic representation on October 30, 1973″ and at that time Bangladesh “was supported by India and the USSR and was a symbol of the Non-aligned”.
The embassy, it is specified, was opened in the city of Dacca in January 1974.
Always according to the official report, on March 18, 1974, Argentina “offered to donate rice, apples and wheat in the aftermath of the flood that hit Bangladeshaccording to a report from the Directorate of Asia and Oceania of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government quickly activated the grain trade.”
It also indicates that the “military dictatorship that struck Argentina decided, in 1978, by order of the then de facto government under Jorge Rafael Videla, through Decree No. 3755 published on 12/15/1977, close the Argentine embassy in this country“, alleging “budgetary restrictions, but the decision had an anti-Peronist DNA”, and “notable pro-Western and Christian”.
According to data from the Foreign Ministry, in 2022 a trade surplus for Argentina of USD 720.8 million was registered / Photo: AFP.
trade and opportunities
Regarding the economic data, the Foreign Ministry explained that “in 2022 bilateral trade with Bangladesh was USD765 million.”
“Argentine exports -it is specified- reached USD 742.9 million and imports from Bangladesh totaled USD 22.1 million. It was registered in 2022 a trade surplus for Argentina of USD 720.8 million. Possible business opportunity, watch out Bangladesh needs agro-industrial products where Argentina has a low market share.”
In addition, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that “in April 2022, the file for the reopening of this diplomatic headquarters. due to the commercial strategy promoted by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero and the broad growth in exports that this surplus destination for our country shows”.
