Luo Gan, member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), arrived in Buenos Aires Monday for a goodwill visit to Argentina.

In his written statement delivered at the airport upon arrival, Luo said Sino-Argentine friendship has a long history although the two countries are far apart from each other.

He pointed to the deepening of bilateral political mutual trust and fruitful cooperation in such fields as economy, trade, science, technology and culture in the 33 years of bilateral diplomatic ties.

He said the CPC and the Chinese government attaches importance to Sino-Argentine ties and will work with the Argentine side to enrich the content of bilateral partnership of overall cooperation so as to promote the further development of bilateral ties.

He said the purpose of this visit is to conduct extensive exchanges, deepen friendship, expand consensus and promote cooperation, and he believed that the visit will be successful with joint efforts from both sides.

Argentina is the first leg of Luo's visit to three Latin American countries. He is also scheduled to visit Uruguay and Cuba.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2005)