On February 15, 2019, Zhang Jianguo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, met with Augustin Campero, Secretary for Science and Technology Policies of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology of Argentina, and his delegation in Beijing. The two sides exchanged in-depth views on China-Argentina cooperation in STI cooperation, the China-Argentina 40m CART Project and other topics.

Vice Minister Zhang Jianguo said that when the heads of State of the two countries met in December last year, they agreed to plan a blueprint for the development of bilateral relations with a broader vision. He noted that cooperation in STI is an important part of the bilateral relations between China and Argentina and that in recent years the two sides have carried out pragmatic cooperation in food processing, astronomy and other fields through people-to-people exchange, joint research and other means. Vice Minister Zhang Jianguo said that China is willing to further strengthen its exchanges and cooperation with Argentina in relevant fields. As for CART which is an important project of cooperation in the field of astronomy between China and Argentina, Vice Minister Zhang Jianguo remarked that the two sides should make efforts to push forward the completion of the project as soon as possible so that it can contribute to the research and application of astronomy in the two countries.

Secretary Augustin Campero spoke highly of China??s achievements in the field of STI and said that Argentina is willing to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with China in the field of science and technology and promote exchanges and visits between young scientists of the two countries. He said that Argentina attaches great importance to the CART Project and is willing to actively push forward relevant work and make the project a model of China-Argentina cooperation in STI.

Present at the meeting were Cai Jianing, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Li Yin, Deputy Director General of the Bureau of International Cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhou Wenneng, DDG of the Department of Basic Research of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Diego Ramiro Guelar, Argentine Ambassador to China.