Jakarta – “The Argentine Republic looks at ASEAN as an important and successful regional organisation and is highly interested in working with ASEAN in every relevant areas of cooperation,” said Ricardo Luis Bocalandro, Ambassador of Argentine Republic to ASEAN during the presentation of his Letter of Credence to Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of ASEAN this morning in the latter’s office.

SG Minh congratulated Ambassador Bocalandro for assuming his duty as the Ambassador of Argentine Republic to ASEAN and stressed that Argentina could play a bigger role in promoting cooperation between both Argentine Republic and ASEAN and between Argentine Republic and individual ASEAN Member States in areas such as economic, trade and investment, food and energy security, connectivity including people to people connectivity, and tourism. SG Minh also encouraged Ambassador Bocalandro to work with ASEAN in promoting region to region cooperation between ASEAN and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), ASEAN and MERCOSUR and Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC). SG Minh and Ambassador Bocalandro exchanged views on international and regional concerns including security issues.

Ambassador Bocalandro expressed his gratitude to SG Minh for accepting his Credentials and promised to work closely with ASEAN and the Secretariat officials to forge closer cooperation between ASEAN and Argentina in areas of mutual interests and potentials. He said he will do whatever is possible within his capacity as Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to ASEAN to promote cooperation between Argentina and ASEAN as well as between Latin American and ASEAN regions.

Ambassador Bocalandro is the second Ambassador of the Argentine Republic to ASEAN since the entry into force of the ASEAN Charter in December 2008.