Argentina on Wednesday officially recognized China's market economy status and signed with China a memorandum of understanding on bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

The memorandum was signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his Argentine counterpart Rafael Bielsa during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the south American country.

Under the memorandum, Argentina agreed to recognize China's market economy status and thus waive its right to raise anti-dumping barriers against Chinese goods.

Both sides agreed to actively cooperate in the sectors of infrastructure, housing, energy, agriculture, basic industries, education, science and technology. They also agreed to continuously make efforts to rapidly expand bilateral investment and trade.

The two decided to hold relevant working group meetings in the early half of next year to ensure the realization of goals set in the memorandum, thus creating a favorable environment for further promoting equally and mutually-beneficial bilateral cooperation in trade and investment.