LatinNews Daily - 16 February 2026

*Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno has met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, which took place in Germany from 13-15 February. In a social media post Quirno highlighted China’s position as Argentina’s second biggest trade partner, and noted that he and Wang spoke about the expansion of Argentine exports, new investments, and advances in projects such as dams in the south of the country, which China is funding. According to Quirno, they also highlighted the launch of the new direct Shanghai-Buenos Aires flight, operational since December 2025, “which strengthens connectivity and generates benefits for passengers, tourism, and business”. Quirno added that: “We also shared the benefits of the Rigi [large investments scheme] in this new economic stage in Argentina and the progress made in macroeconomic stabilisation, which strengthens predictability and creates better conditions for investment and trade.” Quirno noted that trade between the two countries had “increased significantly” under President Javier Milei. According to Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec), China was the second-biggest destination for Argentine exports in 2025, accounting for US$9.80bn (+61.4% year-on-year), behind only Brazil. It was also the second-biggest source of imports, again behind Brazil, with imports from China totalling US$17.95bn (+53.9%).