Argentine executives had a luncheon with the American Ambassador in Argentina, Vilma Martínez, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Trade for the Hemisphere, Wálter Bastian. They discussed the potential for business relations between both countries.
The event was organized by the Private Sector of the Americas to welcome the representative sent by President Barack Obama to the region. The Jockey Club restaurant was the venue chosen.
The questions made to the American official focused on bilateral trade and prospective investments from American companies in our country, as sources who participated in such meeting have explained.
The president of the Private Sector of the Americas, Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte – also president of Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (AA2000), – discussed with Bastian the possibilities of strengthening bilateral trade. The official then urged everyone to work hand in hand to create jobs “both here and in the United States.”
On the other hand, the head of AA 2000 also asked the ambassador about the prospects for trade between Argentina and the United States. Concerning this topic, Martínez explained that “bilateral trade relations are very important for both of us. We are working quite well with the authorities to support the legitimate interests of the American companies that currently give jobs to more than 155,000 Argentine workers.” Yet, the Ambassador added: “I hope prospects get better as this would foster the creation of a better business climate, and would also attract further foreign investments.”
GUESTS. Apart from Gutiérrez, the executives who have participated in the event included Jorge Brito (ADEBA and Banco Macro), Alejandro Bulgheroni (Pan American Energy), Carlos De la Vega (Argentine Chamber of Commerce), José Ignacio de Mendiguren (UIA), Alejandro Díaz (Amcham), Alberto Fernández Prieto (Fernández Prieto y Asociados), Cristiano Rattazzi (FIAT), Luis Ribaya (Banco Galicia), Gustavo Ripoll (Dell), Santiago Soldati (Sociedad Comercial del Plata), and Adrián Whertein (La Caja and Grupo Los W)
The session of the Council was also held in Buenos Aires. The members of the local elite and many leading experts on international economy were present. The event has turned into a traditional meeting and an actual forum for a serious and top-quality analysis.
“The world underwent a severe recession from which it is just beginning to recover. We are strongly confident. Besides, we can see the markets have recovered more swiftly than the actual economy. We cannot still assert how this recovery will be like or how job creation will continue. Yet, I believe emerging economies will experience more growth than developed countries,” Susan Segal asserted. It should be pointed out she hosted the event.
In his address, the IMF director, Nicolás Eyzaguirre, asserted that the international crisis that started in September last year has been “the most severe one after the Second World War,” where “the free fall came to a halt,” and there are “regions in the world where the elevator is just moving upward”.
Eyzaguirre warned that although the big hold-off ceased, there could be new storms, though not as strong as the ones from this last year. He also pointed out that the scenario is not the same all around the globe. Therefore, some countries are improving its performance, while others “are not falling as deep as some European countries and even the United Stated, and others “are still amid a strong hold-off, as is the case with the countries from Eastern Europe.”
He believes “there should be less official presence and a stronger involvement of the private sector.” Moreover, he thinks “the Western Hemisphere should move backward, and the Eastern Hemisphere should give a step forward. As consumers, the time for the prevalence of markets such as the Chinese, Brazilian, Indian, and Russian markets has come.”
Eyzaguirre stressed that, “Latin America was better positioned to resist the impact in the light of its sound financial system. The prospects for the region are quite heterogeneous. The Caribbean and Mexico are still quite affected. Yet, prospects are better for commodities producing countries such as Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, after the rise in demand from China.”
“The art of economic politics is to carefully think about the parameters and dials that would help us position ourselves in the best possible way,” Eyzaguirre concluded.
“To approach the Fund again is something positive. There is a new and modern IMF. It has changed. It has a clear understanding that growth in Argentina for the last few years has been the result of heterodoxy and not of the orthodox model they had fostered in the decade of the nineties. In another line of thought, I am concerned with the political confrontation that prevails,” Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte, president of AA2000, stated when inquired by the journalists gathered there to cover the seminar.
Ministers, governors, and business executives alike agreed to spend the morning of Wednesday August 26 at the Alvear Hotel.
The Ministers’ Head, Aníbal Fernández; the Governor of the City of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri; the Council Head, Susan Segal; and the president of the CAC, Carlos De la Vega, formally opened the event.
They were followed by the addresses made by the governors of the provinces of Salta and Chubut, Juan Manuel Urtubey and Mario Das Neves, respectively.
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Chiche Gelblung: We will contact now Trinidad and Tobago. We will talk to Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte, President of Aeropuertos Argentina 2000,who is there right now. A second OAS Hemispheric Forum of the PrivateSector is taking place there and, certainly, the top executives fromthe major companies in the region are beginning to lay the emphasis onthe importance of continue pursuing success. Good morning Mr.Gutiérrez. How are you?
Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte: Good morning Chiche. How are you?
Very well, thanks. By the way, the weather is excellent. What is like there?
It is hot here. We are inan island in the Caribbean. It is very hot, and essentially (…) it verybothersome to move around, particularly for all the expectations andthe security measures in place to welcome a leader like the U.S.President, as well as other 34 presidents. I bet you can imagine whatit is like to go through checkpoints in the island.
When are the executives there supposed tohave a participation in the event? Are you waiting for the decisionsthat the top leaders will ultimately make or is the forum merely ameeting of business executives?
No, no. I can explain it abit Chiche. We started our forum yesterday. We formally opened theSecond Business Forum. I did it together with Engineer José MiguelInsulza from the OAS and the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Weopened the forum and we worked all day. (…) We are giving the finaltouches to all the recommendations that the private sector will presentthe public sector. Therefore, I will submit these recommendationstomorrow to the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs before the OASAssembly.
I would like you to make a brief a summary in just one minute of what you will be presenting there.
Basically, we will tellthem we should not forget what is actually important to favor what isurgent. The urgent thing has been addressing the financial crisisproblem, which seems to have left aside all the other important issuesfor our region. And we have been working on these important areaswithin the private sector, in cooperation with the public sector, forthe last five years. We have been doing so since the meeting held inMar del Plata, the Summit in Mar del Plata. You will certainly rememberwe gathered in Buenos Aires. It has to do with social inclusion,corporate social responsibility, environmental protection, andnarrowing the digital gap, or what we know as technology gap (…).Essentially, it focuses on education as the preparation to promotelabor inclusion in the most marginalized sectors. We have worked a lotin these areas. We have made significant progress. We have succeeded inhaving all these suggestions implemented. This is precisely what wepursue. Therefore, we do not want the crisis the entire world isundergoing to force us to leave it all aside or put it off. Overall, inthe long term it will actually change the conditions of an Americansociety where 800 million people are looking for an actual response totheir problems.
We will continue in contact to check theresults and to get to know how the conference develops and the impactthis coming hemispheric summit will have. My best wishes. Thank you fortaking the time to talk to us.
Thank you Chiche. I wish you all the best.
Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte, President of Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, from Trinidad and Tobago. OAS Second Hemispheric Forum of the Private Sector.
“As business executives, we must do our best to keep our borders open for the exchange of goods and services as an efficient tool for development.” Ernesto Gutierrez Conte presented the project to the US Congressman Gregory Meeks, among other leaders.
The Central Biocean Corridor is no longer a mere scheme, it has become now a reality. Some dare say it will be the second Panama Channel in the American Continent, giving Argentina and Brazil the possibility of reaching several major international markets such as China, Australia, and the Eastern regions of the United States and Mexico from Valparaíso, in Chile, at significantly lower costs. In addition, the project also gives our neighbor on the other side of the Andes the possibility of reaching Europe and Africa from the port of Buenos Aires. This initiative fostered by the two countries will demand an investment of US $3 billion. As such, the project will be carried out by Corporación América, the company led by Eduardo Eurnekian and chaired by Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte, in coordination with Empresas Navieras, a Chilean company.
The presentation of the project and the reason why both governments from the Southern Cone declared it a project of national public interest was devised by the former minister of foreign affairs, and currently advisor for Corporación América, Rafael Bielsa, in Trinidad and Tobago, on occasion of the II Hemispheric Private Sector Forum. “The actual project envisages using a wide-gage electric railroad system to connect the cities of Luján de Cuyo, in Mendoza, with Los Andes, in the V Region of Chile, with the construction of the Biocean Corridor. It will be a tunnel of 52 kilometers in length with an entrance on the Argentine side, at 2,300 meters above sea level – some 800 meters less than the current road tunnel known as Cristo Redentor. It will be the first project to join two oceans and five countries, as it will also facilitate transport from Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay,” Bielsa explained.
“No successful company can exist in unsuccessful societies,” Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte said.
This time, the theme for the forum was “Promoting private sector-led prosperity in the emerging decade: The quest for competitiveness.” It was held in the city of Port of Spain, in Trinidad.
This encounter of business executives was organized just before the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which will gather the Heads of State of 34 Governments from the Western Hemisphere next April 17 through 19.
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Manuel Insulza, led the meeting that gathered many business executives and delegates from America.
“We will witness today a historical milestone. This is the first time that 34 Presidents and Heads of State will gather in this region of the Caribbean to make decisions that will certainly have an impact on the lives of more than 800 million inhabitants in our continent,” he added.
The executives focused on reviewing the issues discussed during the first hemispheric forum held in Mar del Plata in 2005. They include job creation and the fight against poverty.
On behalf of the Argentine business sector, Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte ensured that “investments should not be necessarily or exclusively made by the State.”
“The private sector has many things to do in this field because their companies’ competitiveness and profitability will depend on the quality of their own labor force.”
In his view, this is the only way we can reach a consensus on the many common challenges we must face to ensure social peace, welfare, and sustainable development for all.Following that line of thought, Ernesto Gutiérrez Conte criticized the protectionist approach some countries are adopting in connection with their imports. “Every measure that may favor protectionism, far from safeguarding the local economies, will give rise to a vicious circle that, if it is not stopped on time, may even worsen the current global situation,” he said.