Poverty, environment are major priorities

Environmental protection and poverty elimination are the topics that Argentina's new ambassador to China, Diego Ramiro Guelar, is most concerned about for the upcoming G20 Summit, as he believes the basic rationale of the meeting is to create conditions for permanent world peace.

"The G20 sends a clear message of connectivity, innovation and protection of the environment as pillars of human development," he said.

"An interconnected world, technologically creative and careful of the planet is the synthesis of our best dreams. We will be able to bring them to life if we have the ability to act in coordination."

Guelar praised the summit's theme of "building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy", because "it coincides with the programs of almost all the countries in the world, including Argentina".

"This exercise of 'global governance' will profoundly affect global multilateral structures, and it also carries a major challenge for the international system: we must achieve a century of peace," he said.

He praised the summit's special attention to environmental issues and the expected consensus to be reached in Hangzhou.

According to the ambassador, environmental conditions are a new pillar of the world economy as they produce businesses, create jobs and are a new engine to boost development.

He also noticed that China is making extraordinary efforts to tackle environmental issues.

"I don't have any doubt that in 10 years," he said, "blue skies will be easily achieved in China because you're working on that."

Poverty, a brake on mankind's progress, must be tackled and is a major concern of the ambassador and the G20 can target the scourge.

"We don't have any doubt that the final meaning of the knowledge of science is to overcome big human difficulties," he said as defeating poverty paves the way for connectivity and innovation.

"If we can control damage to the environment, if we can go forward in terms of eliminating poverty, the perspective of the next 20 or 30 years is extraordinarily good for world peace," he added.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri accompanied by a high-level delegation arrived in Hangzhou on Friday to attend the summit. The team, which also includes Argentina's Economy and Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay, Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra and Deputy Minister of Public Finance Pedro Lacoste, intends to show that Argentina is open for business for foreign investors.

Macri will address the summit on Sept 5.