Argentina and China are working to an agreed deadline to finalise and bring into force a contract signed in February for construction of a China-supplied HPR1000, or Hualong One, nuclear unit for the Atucha-3 plant in Buenos Aires province.

José Luis Antúnez, president of Nucleoeléctrica, the state-owned company that operates Argentina’s nuclear facilities, told independent media outlet Diálogo Chino there is a maximum term of nine months to conclude the contract, but “we hope to achieve it in less time”.

He said: “We have to close the financial agreement – the credit details and the disbursement schedule. We hope to get the best possible conditions from China, especially now that Argentina has joined the Belt and Road initiative.”

The Belt and Road initiative is China’s flagship global infrastructure development programme, which seeks to build trade and new political and economic ties with participating nations. It is considered a centrepiece of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s foreign policy.