The Argentine ambassador to China, Sabino Vaca Narvaja, received, together with the Forces Attaché, General Norberto Zarate, the delegation of pilots and technicians from the Argentine Air Force who carried out evaluations of the JF-17 Thunder. In Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where the facilities of the China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC company ) are located, the delegation carried out different technical stages that included simulators, cabin practices and flight tests evaluation.
The Argentine Embassy in China reported that defence cooperation with China is not limited to evaluating the acquisition of JF-17 aircraft. Last year, Argentina participated for the first time in the Zhuhai Aerospace Exhibition, in which the ambassador met with Jiao Kaihe, president of China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO), a Chinese state company with which the government is advancing a project that contemplates not only the acquisition of 8×8 armoured vehicles but also the installation in Argentina of an assembly plant and subsequent manufacture of these vehicles.
The Argentine government seeks to achieve technology transfer from the NORINCO company and build, together with it, a factory for the production of dual-use vehicles.
