Argentina FM Santiago Cafiero sees energy transition, civil nuclear technology as key to joint Saudi-Argentine fight against climate change

Short Url
Updated 10 November 2022
Follow

Argentina FM Santiago Cafiero sees energy transition, civil nuclear technology as key to joint Saudi-Argentine fight against climate change

  • Argentina has solar and green hydrogen and sustainability initiatives such as regenerative agriculture to offer, Cafiero told Arab News during exclusive interview
  • He said the two countries should connect not only through commercial and political developments but also in areas of culture and institutions

RIYADH: Energy transition, civil nuclear technology and environmental sustainability are among the many potential areas of cooperation between Argentina and Saudi Arabia in the fight against climate change, Santiago Cafiero, the Argentine minister of foreign affairs, said during an exclusive interview with Arab News on Wednesday.

Considerations such as these are high on the global diplomatic agenda this month. Cafiero’s visit to Saudi Arabia coincides with the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, where the Kingdom is showcasing its Saudi Green and Middle East Green Initiatives.

“Argentina has signed up to the international commitments and it has actually raised its ambitions with respect to carbon emissions,” said Cafiero, highlighting the South American nation’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

In this context, he cited energy-transition projects involving solar and green hydrogen as well as sustainability initiatives such as regenerative agriculture as some of the country’s many strengths.

“Argentina is the eighth largest country in the world. It has an immense geography, and it has natural resources that are very well known. But we also take great care of them. We have a view of sustainable productive development with respect to the environment and we intend to keep it that way,” he said.

“Argentina has an important role to play in terms of the energy transition. Today we have green hydrogen projects and we also have developments of strategic minerals for electro mobility, such as copper and lithium. Argentina can really become an important player for the energy transition and there I think we can do cooperative work with Saudi Arabia.”




Soft power and expertise exchange are key to growing ties between Buenos Aires and Riyadh, Argentina’s foreign minister told Arab News assistant editor-in-chief Noor Nugali. (AN Photo/Huda Bashatah)

Cafiero’s visit to the Kingdom — his first as Argentina’s top diplomat — comes as the world faces multiple overlapping crises — from the residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to inflation, climate pressures and the war in Ukraine — that have caused disruptions to global food and energy supply chains.

While Saudi Arabia and Argentina have risen to these challenges in their own ways, Cafiero believes the two countries have much to contribute by cooperating in everything from business and diplomacy to energy security.

“In this time of uncertainty, I think that friendly countries like Saudi Arabia and Argentina have a lot to contribute to the world if they come together, if they work together and cooperate,” Cafiero told Arab News.

According to Cafiero, Saudi Arabia and Argentina have “all the possibilities” to connect their two peoples commercially, politically and in the areas of culture and clean energy.

“Argentina has natural and human resources,” he said, “and it also has a strong political inclination to move in this direction together with Saudi Arabia when it comes to developing business links, trade, and also to lend a hand to the rest of the world to provide energy and secure food.”

Last year, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez urged investors from Saudi Arabia and other countries to “turn your gaze to Argentina,” saying that he wanted foreign investment that “produces and wins.” Since then, fresh business ties have already been established.

“Today, the work that we are carrying forward, in the ministry of foreign affairs and international trade, is that of a road map for strategic sectors that we understand are of interest to Saudi Arabia. These are agribusiness and the biotechnology industry,” said Cafiero.

“And then we also have an interesting development in knowledge-driven economy and strategic minerals. Argentina also has a great capacity for its own development of services related to non-conventional gas production, and high-tech sectors such as the satellite industry or the application of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.”

Civil nuclear technology is a promising area of cooperation between the two countries. Saudi Arabia — blessed not only with the great gift of oil but also with vast reserves of the uranium required for nuclear generation — is currently planning its first reactor in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Argentina looks back on 70 years of work on nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” said Cafiero. “In fact, we are developing a reactor for studies here in Saudi Arabia and for the development of applications related to nuclear technology. That is, applications related to nuclear medicine, cancer treatment and some even applied to agricultural products.

“We also apply nuclear technology to eliminate plastic from the oceans, which is something we are already doing in Antarctica.”

For all its technological strengths, Argentina’s economy has endured several turbulent years, mainly owing to chronic inflation. Last month, the IMF, which has described the country’s economic situation as “fragile,” approved a $17.5 billion loan to Buenos Aires — the second installment of a $44 billion support package.

FASTFACT

* $1.03bn - Value of Saudi imports from Argentina in 2021.

(Source: UN COMTRADE)

Cafiero says that the Argentine economy has now returned to growth, resulting in booming exports, record foreign investment and rising employment.

“We are optimistic about the path that the Argentine economy is taking,” said Cafiero. “We had three consecutive years of economic recession: 2018, 2019 and 2020, with the pandemic.

“Only in 2021 Argentina started to grow again and it grew a lot: 10.3 percent this year. In the first half of this year, we also have a growth of six points in gross national product. So we believe that we are on the right track.”

He added: “During the last year 1.2 million jobs have been created. So far this year, 30,000 jobs have been generated every month … In the first half of the year 2022 we have a record investment rate in the history of Argentina and we are going to reach record export levels during this year.”

Despite its recent economic misfortunes, Argentina remains well known for its wealth of cultural icons, from its acclaimed authors such as Victoria Ocampo and musical greats such as Diego Torres to its celebrated sportsmen Messi and Maradona.




Santiago Cafiero meeting with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan during his visit to the Kingdom. (Twitter/@SantiagoCafiero)

As Saudi Arabia emerges as the Middle East’s new hub for the arts, culture, music, sports and filmmaking, Cafiero believes there is a role for soft power in forging closer ties between the Kingdom and Argentina.

“I think we have all the possibilities to bring more Argentina to Saudi Arabia, and more Saudi Arabia to Argentina,” he said. “We should therefore connect these two peoples not only in their commercial and political development, but we also have to move forward from a cultural point of view.

Referring to Saudi Arabia’s opening match against much-fancied Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar on Nov. 22, Cafiero said: “With respect to football, although we are only divided by one match and we both want our team to win. It really is a sport that builds bridges.”

On the diplomatic front, the Arab Gulf states have long had concerns about Iranian and Hezbollah activities in Latin America. Several regional governments have made attempts to build ties with Iran, doing little to relieve those concerns.

Such attempts by Argentina have been less pronounced in recent decades. After a period of nuclear cooperation that began in the mid-1980s, relations with Iran were set back by two bombings in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s.




Argentina’s top diplomat Cafiero said his country and Saudi Arabia could cooperate in the field of environmental sustainability while forging closer commercial, political, cultural and institutional relations. (AN Photo/Huda Bashatah)

Those bombings, the first of the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the second that of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in 1994, destroyed what had previously been a close and mutually beneficial relationship.

“Argentina’s diplomatic relationship with Iran is on a rather low level, as a result of the attacks that Argentina suffered in 1992 and 1994,” said Cafiero.

“At that time, the Argentine justice system requested Iranian authorities to be part of the investigation but they did not cooperate. Since then, this relationship is therefore a tense one.”

By contrast, Cafiero says Saudi Arabia and Argentina can strengthen the international order through cooperation, and enrich one another by establishing cultural and institutional bridges.

“We need a safer world and we strive for that security from the basis of a multilateralism in solidarity,” he said.

“I think we both have two cultures that are very powerful cultures and they should build bridges between each other. Once they know and understand each other, they will surely enrich each other.”

 


COP29 draft deal would have rich nations pay $300 billion in climate finance

Updated 4 sec ago
Follow

COP29 draft deal would have rich nations pay $300 billion in climate finance

  • EU, US, others raised their offer after earlier draft rejected
  • Climate talks run into overtime. Talks reach deal on carbon credits

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Developed nations should pay $300 billion a year by 2035 to help poorer countries deal with climate change, according to a new draft deal from UN climate talks published early on Sunday, after an earlier target of $250 billion was rejected.
Reuters previously reported that the European Union, the United States and others wealthy countries would support the $300 billion annual global finance target in an effort to end a deadlock at the two-week summit.
The document, described as a draft decision rather than a draft negotiating text like previous iterations, said nations had decided to set a goal “of at least $300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country Parties for climate action.”
The decision would need to be adopted by consensus before becoming final.
The COP29 climate conference in the Azerbaijan capital Baku had been due to finish on Friday, but ran into overtime as negotiators from nearly 200 countries struggled to reach consensus on the climate funding plan for the next decade.
At one point delegates from poor and small island nations walked out of talks in frustration over what they called a lack of inclusion, and amid concerns fossil fuel producing countries were seeking to water down aspects of the deal.
The summit cut to the heart of the debate over the financial responsibility of industrialized countries, whose historical use of fossil fuels has caused the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions, to compensate others for the damage wrought by climate change.
It also laid bare the divisions between wealthy governments constrained by tight domestic budgets and developing nations reeling from the costs of worsening storms, floods and droughts.
Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad told Reuters he was optimistic for an eventual agreement in Baku.
“When it comes to money it’s always controversial but we are expecting a deal tonight,” he said.
The new goal is intended to replace developed countries’ previous commitment to provide $100 billion per year in climate finance for poorer nations by 2020. That goal was met two years late, in 2022, and expires in 2025.
A previous $250 billion proposal drawn up by Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency was rejected as too low by poorer countries, which have warned a weak deal would hinder their ability to set more ambitious greenhouse gas emissions cutting targets.
Countries also agreed Saturday evening on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits that proponents say could mobilize billions of dollars into new projects to help fight global warming.

What counts as developed nation?
Negotiators have been working to address other questions on the finance target, including who is asked to contribute and how much of the funding is provided as grants, rather than loans.
The roster of countries required to contribute — about two dozen industrialized countries, including the US, European nations and Canada — dates back to a list decided during UN climate talks in 1992.
European governments have demanded others join them in paying in, including China, the world’s second-biggest economy, and oil-rich Gulf states.
Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory this month has also cast a cloud over the Baku talks.
Trump, who takes office in January, has promised to again remove the US from international climate cooperation, so negotiators from other wealthy nations expect that under his administration the world’s largest economy will not pay into the climate finance goal.
A broader goal of raising $1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 — which would include funding from all public and private sources and which economists say matches the sum needed — was included in the draft deal.


Warrants of ICC are binding, Borrell says

Updated 50 min 31 sec ago
Follow

Warrants of ICC are binding, Borrell says

  • I have the right to criticize the decisions of the Israeli government without being accused of antisemitism

NICOSIA: EU governments cannot pick and choose whether to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against two Israeli leaders and a Hamas commander, the EU’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday.

The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes against humanity.
All EU member states signed the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute.
Several EU states have said they will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would face no risks if he did so.
“The states that signed the Rome convention must implement the court’s decision. It’s not optional,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.
Those same obligations were also binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said.
“It would be very funny that the newcomers have an obligation that current members don’t fulfill,” he said.
The US rejected the ICC’s decision and Israel said the ICC move was antisemitic.
“Every time someone disagrees with the policy of one Israeli government — (they are) being accused of antisemitism,” said Borrell, whose term as EU foreign policy chief ends this month.
“I have the right to criticize the decisions of the Israeli government, be it Mr. Netanyahu or someone else, without being accused of antisemitism. This is not acceptable. That’s enough.”
In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.”
The warrant for Al-Masri lists charges of mass killings during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Israel says it has killed Al-Masri.
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has praised the “courageous decision” of the International Criminal Court to seek the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant.
“We support the arrest warrant. We consider it important that this courageous decision be carried out by all country members of the accord to renew the trust of humanity in the international system,” Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.
“It is imperative that Western countries — who for years have given the world lessons on law, justice, and human rights — keep their promises at this stage,” added Erdogan, whose country is not a state party in the ICC accord.
Erdogan has become a fierce critic of Israel since the start of its military offensive on Gaza in October 2023.
He has vowed several times to make sure that Israel’s prime minister is “brought to account” over the Israeli military campaign in the Palestinian territory.
Turkiye and 52 other countries this month sent a letter to the UN demanding an end to arms sales and deliveries to Israel.

 


Mozambique opposition leader Mondlane sets conditions for post-election talks

Updated 23 November 2024
Follow

Mozambique opposition leader Mondlane sets conditions for post-election talks

  • We are open to dialogue. It has to be a genuine dialogue. It cannot be full of traps

MAPUTO: Mozambique’s opposition leader said he would accept the president’s offer of talks after deadly post-election unrest on terms including their being held virtually and legal proceedings against him being dropped.
President Filipe Nyusi invited Venancio Mondlane to his office in Maputo on Nov. 26 after the killing of dozens of people in a police crackdown on demonstrations against the results of the Oct. 9 election.
Mondlane, who says the election was rigged in favor of Nyusi’s Frelimo party, is believed to have left the country for fear of arrest or attack, but his whereabouts are unknown.
“We are open to dialogue,” Mondlane said in a Facebook live address. “It has to be a genuine dialogue. It cannot be full of traps.”
A written reply to Nyusi’s invitation lists as one condition for the meeting: “That the participation of the elected candidate Venancio Mondlane is virtual.”
Authorities have laid criminal and civil charges against him, including for damages caused during protests by his supporters, which has led to his bank accounts being frozen.
Another condition in the document made public by Mondlane’s office is that “the judicial proceedings in question must be immediately terminated.” It also lays out 20 points that Mondlane wants on the agenda for talks, including “restoring electoral truth” and prosecuting anyone involved in vote-rigging.
Others are a public apology and compensation for the deaths during the demonstrations, as well as constitutional, economic, and electoral reforms.
Rights groups have accused Mozambique authorities of using live ammunition on demonstrators in the country, which has been governed since independence from Portugal in 1975 by Frelimo.
The Center for Democracy and Human Rights civil society group says around 65 people have been killed. Mondlane on Friday gave a toll of more than 60.
Nyusi said Tuesday 19 people had died, including five police officers.
The president is meant to hand over to Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo in January, whom the election authority says won 71 percent of votes against 20 percent for Mondlane.
The unrest was discussed Wednesday by regional leaders at a summit of the 16-nation Southern Africa grouping Southern African Development Community, or SADC, which said in a statement afterward that it “extended condolences to the government and people” for the lives lost.
Human Rights Watch criticized the SADC, for failing to denounce Mozambique for excessive use of force.
“SADC has squandered an opportunity to condemn human rights abuses against post-election protesters in Mozambique publicly,” it said in a statement.
The rights watchdog urged the grouping to tell Nyusi’s government to respect the right to peaceful protest and cease using unnecessary and excessive force.

 


EU recalls its ambassador from Niger

Niger's General Abdourahamane Tiani. (AFP file photo)
Updated 23 November 2024
Follow

EU recalls its ambassador from Niger

  • The EU expresses its profound disagreement with the allegations

NIAMEY: The EU will recall its ambassador from Niger after the country’s ruling military questioned an EU delegation’s management of humanitarian aid meant for flood victims, the European External Action Service, or EEAS, said on Saturday. Niger’s junta issued a statement on Friday accusing the EU ambassador in the West African country of dividing a 1.3 million euro fund to assist flood victims between several international NGOs in a non-transparent manner, and without collaborating with the authorities.
It ordered an audit into the fund’s management as a result.
The EU “expresses its profound disagreement with the allegations and justifications put forward by the transitional authorities,” the EEAS said in a statement.
“Consequently, the EU has decided to recall its ambassador from Niamey for consultations in Brussels.”
Niger has been under military rule since the junta seized power in a 2023 coup.

 


Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

Updated 23 November 2024
Follow

Afghanistan bets on ‘red gold’ for global market presence

  • Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer, after Iran
  • Afghan saffron has been for years recognized as the world’s best

Kabul: As the saffron harvest season is underway in Afghanistan, traders are expecting better yields than in previous years, sparking hopes that exports of the precious crop, known locally as “red gold,” will help uplift the country’s battered economy and livelihoods.
Afghanistan is the world’s second-largest saffron producer, after Iran, but it ranks first in terms of quality. In June, the Belgium-based International Taste Institute for the ninth consecutive year recognized Afghan saffron as the world’s best.
Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, selling for about $2,000 per kilogram. Its exports provide critical foreign currency to Afghanistan, where US-imposed sanctions have severely affected the fragile economy since the Taliban took control in 2021.

With this year’s production expected to exceed 50 tons — about double that of the 2023 and 2022 seasons — the government and the Afghanistan National Saffron Union are trying to boost exports abroad.
“The harvest of saffron this year is good. During the first nine months (of 2024), Afghanistan exported around 46 tons of saffron to different countries,” Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada, spokesperson at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, told Arab News.
“Everywhere our traders want to export saffron, we support them in any part of the world through air corridors and facilitating the participation of Afghan traders in national and international exhibitions.”
Known to have been cultivated for at least 2,000 years, saffron is well suited to Afghanistan’s dry climate, especially in Herat, where 90 percent of it is produced. Most of the spice’s trade is also centered in the province, which last weekend inaugurated its International Saffron Trade Center to facilitate exports.
“The new international saffron trade center is established with global standards and will bring major processing and trade companies to one place providing a single venue for farmers to trade their products with the best possible conditions,” Mohammad Ibrahim Adil, head of the Afghanistan National Saffron Union, told Arab News.

The union’s main export market is India, where saffron is a common ingredient in food, followed by Gulf countries — especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“Saffron exports bring the much-needed foreign currency to Afghanistan contributing significantly to stabilization of the financial cycle in the country,” said Qudratullah Rahmati, the saffron union’s deputy head.
The union estimates that saffron contributes about $100 million to the Afghan economy a year.
Most, or 95 percent, of the workers are women, according to the saffron union.
“Saffron production is supporting many families, especially women, during the harvest and processing phase through short-term and long-term employment opportunities. There are around 80-85 registered small and big saffron companies in Herat and the small ones employ four to five people while the bigger ones have up to 80 permanent staff,” said Qudratullah Rahmati, the saffron union’s deputy head.
Harvesting the little purple saffron crocus flowers is heavily labor intensive, as each of them needs to be picked by hand. Once the flowers are picked, their tiny orange stigmas are separated for drying. About 440,000 stigmas are needed to produce one kilogram of the fragrant spice.
The harvest season usually begins between October and November are lasts just a few weeks before the flowers wilt.