Although the format is repeated, the Idea Colloquium, which returns to Mar del Plata after three years, will go out of the box this time. The organizers try to leave as a message that they have moved from claiming to proposals to go through what’s left of this government and wait for the next one. The motto, giving in to grow, which crowns the conference is a metaphor for what a part of the entrepreneurial elite, which participates in the debates in record numbers, thinks and wants. Clarín interviewed Daniel Herrero, former head of Toyota and president of the Colloquium, along with Daniel González, former CEO of YPF and current CEO of Idea.
– Who has to give up?
Daniel Herrero (DH): – When we say giving up it is because there is another in front, it is looking at the other to include and grow. We all have to give in in this Argentina. This is a Colloquium that does not want to complain, there will be no complaints but proposals on the table to move towards a better future.
Daniel González (DG): – The proposals are not a government plan and we do not intend to cover all areas. We define five areas such as education, employment, integration into the world, public finances and the rules of the game.
Q: Are these proposals based on a diagnosis?
DG: – We propose two or three very specific things in a scenario where we do not all agree, but we agree on very basic points that can be achieved in the medium term. This is not a Colloquium on the situation, let’s look at the medium term. Furthermore, it is not just businessmen who develop the proposals, we are open to experts, thinkers, economists. The idea is that the Colloquium offers opportunities for debate, that it is the beginning of what needs to be done.
– For example, on the tax issue, what should be done?
DH- We will not ask for taxes to be lowered. We know that the fiscal situation is very delicate and we are giving in to be able to grow. We focus on a proposal based on the minimum consent to work from the day after the Interview.
Q: And in terms of work, are you going to propose some kind of reform?
DG- We are not even asking for a labor reform. The proposals are based on the search for solutions to increase formal employment.
– As regards the fiscal aspect, which you define as delicate, what do you propose?
DG- The need to take the fiscal situation very seriously, but not as a description or criticism of the current situation, but with the certainty that for decades we have been going in the wrong direction. We don’t look at the photo, we try to change the things that have been wrong for a long time. This is not a temporary criticism, but to start thinking about medium and long-term development.
DH- We understand the situation and how difficult it is to manage it.
–What do you mean by difficult management?
DH- One case was the tire conflict with a very tense negotiation and the role of the Minister of Labor in finding a way out.
–You are a plural space but there are few guests of the ruling party …
DG- We were with the President’s team and we are seeing how he can get to participate.
–Minister Massa will just be in Washington …
DG-Yes, but we confirmed it, either through a live dialogue or with a recorded message. Massa will be at the Colloquium. Present will be the Secretary of Industry, José de Mendiguren, and Jorge Neme, Secretary of Federal Development Planning.
– During Kichnerism there were always Scioli and Vidal in the Macri administration, will Kicillof go there?
DG-Governor Kicillof will not be present. He was invited. Five governors will go: Jorge Capitanich, Gerardo Morales, Omar Perotti, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Sergio Uñac.
–With the dollar high and commodity prices falling, the rate hike in the US, China growing less, is there headwind for the Argentine economy?
DH- We will deal with the international context and how Argentina fits into the world. It’s a complicated scenario with rampant war and tension between China and Taiwan. However, Argentina has a gigantic opportunity to produce what the world needs and which can become an engine for sustainable growth. We invited Xavier Sala i Martin, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, who will make an overview of Europe and especially China.
–What do you perceive in the company agenda?
DG- There is immense interest in an area of debate and dialogue, we have a record number of partners and sponsors with 538 companies. The idea does not escape the situation, he sees the glass half full and goes to the Colloquium with that waiting.
Q: Next year is electoral, do expectations change?
DG- We know that the election is a very important event in terms of public policies that it can imply. But we won’t go into that topic or sideways.
DH- We are concerned with how to improve the competitiveness of the country, work to improve investments.
–One of the innovations of the Colloquium is the interaction between the participants, what is it about?
DH- After the pandemic there is a need for contacts to strengthen ties and what is sought in the informality of the dialogues that always take place in the corridors is to institutionalize that meeting and exchange space in the belief that it is the tide to access to break antinomies, avoid cracks and grow with inclusion.
– Talk about dialogue, don’t you have a naive position?
DH- We are very stubborn Galicians and we have the spirit to give in to grow and that is why we will insist.
DG-Daniel does not say it, but Toyota has sought the path of dialogue and consensus with the union and the government. If we are not stubborn and obsessed, neither investment nor employment will be recovered.
– The absence of two themes very present in previous editions, such as corruption and social issues, is striking.
DG-They play even if they don’t have a title. But when we talk about institutional quality and the rules of the game where we have proposals, we also talk about corruption. And the social question is closely linked to the employment debate. Gerardo Martínez from UOCRA and Ricardo Pignanelli from SMATA will be present.
A lunch with Roberto Lavagna and Javier Milei
Unlike almost all of his editions, inaugurated by the current governor of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof anticipated that he will not be the one to take care of the reception as Daniel Scioli knew how to do during the Kirchnerism or María Eugenia Vidal in the Macri administration. The truth is that, unlike in other years, there are few officials present.
On Thursday evening the Colloquium will host the long-awaited party, which for a couple of years has been managed by HSBC with English and Chinese capital, which once again won the tender for that celebration. And there are parallel lunches organized by banks and some companies in the most atmospheric restaurants in Mar del Plata.
But perhaps the one of greatest interest is the one who calls Roberto Lavagna, Patricia Bullrich, Facundo Manes, Carlos Melconian, Javier Milei and Jorge Neme behind closed doors.
By the way, they have institutionalized informal talks in the corridors where lobbyists, entrepreneurs and very few politicians parade in this edition. They will do a trading day. A captivating table will be the one entitled “The gaze of those who choose”: Marcos Bulgheroni, Carolina Castro and Luis Pérez Companc will participate. Another highlight will be the dialogue with the sociologist Juan Carlos Torre, author of the essential, A season on the fifth floor.
Source: Clarin
