UPDATE - Argentina, Russia Enjoy '21st Century' Modern Bilateral Relationship - Ambassador

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2019) Argentine-Russian bilateral ties are an example of a "21st century" modern relationship, with the two countries considering mutual investment in advanced fields rather than just trade in Primary goods, Argentine Ambassador to Russia Ricardo Ernesto Lagorio told Sputnik on Monday.

"We will continue working together and working in new areas because our bilateral relationship is expanding to what I call a relationship based on parameters of the 21st century. We are no longer importing or exporting primary goods. We are going for investments in infrastructure, in energy, in nanotechnology, in pharmaceuticals. We are having a really modern bilateral relationship according to the 21st century," Lagorio said.

Russian-Argentine trade was expected to reach $1-1.2 billion in 2018, Russian Ambassador to Argentina Dmitry Feoktistov told Sputnik in December. According to the Russian diplomat, the two countries were looking at several large-scale Russian projects on nuclear energy, hydropower, transport infrastructure, logistics, fertilizers.

"[Russia] is working in two ports, one in the province Santa Fe and the other in the province Buenos Aires, maybe [this can be] attached to this investment in energy.

Those are matters that are being discussed because the investment in energy is shale gas and you need a lot of sand and water for the exploitation. That's where you have railroads and then [it might be possible] to take out the gas through ports so we could have a type of joint venture between different areas of investment, different companies and that will be great," Lagorio said.

The ambassador has told Sputnik that Gazprom and Argentina's Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) energy company may sign an agreement on gas exploration in the near future.

At the same time, Russia has shown interest in various infrastructure projects in Argentina. Russian Railways company is interested in the project on rebuilding and construction of a railroad in Argentina, which would be needed to use Vaca Muerta shale oil and shale gas deposits, Feoktistov told Sputnik in December.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, Argentina has the second-largest shale gas reserves in the world.