With a focus on Mercosur and the integration of the region, this Tuesday Puerto Madero was the site of an economic meeting that brought together political leaders, economists and businessmen. Mariana Camino, CEO and partner of the consulting firm Abeceb, opened the 12th Abeceb Forum at the Puerto Madero Yacht Club, with the slogan “The Other Climate Change”.
In the first panel, political analysts Ricardo Hausmann and Andrés Malamud talked about the strategies the region is adopting to grow.
“In energy terms, the world aims to decarbonise and become increasingly flat in terms of productive forcescommented Hausmann.
Malamud went to the bone when he spoke of the region’s “irrelevance”. “We were able to verify this at the last NATO conference Latin America is the only region that is not considered an opportunity or an advantage. But this irrelevance can be an advantage in this period with the highest global inflation in the last 40 years. “
Regarding Lula’s victory in Brazil, Malamud stressed that this confirms that “the propensity to alternate is a norm that is pronounced in Latin America. This means that democracies show signs of antifragility. In its development opportunities, the challenge for the region is that 50% of the people living in informality do not lag behind and that the benefits of progress are shared by all ”.
In the block where political risks and opportunities in Latin America were discussed, Dante Sica, former Minister of Production and Labor and founding partner of Abeceb, stressed that “Argentina today lacks openness, reforms and macroeconomic stability, thus explaining what we are the country that falls the most in structural terms in a region which has redefined its orientation to see the world more and more.
“We have a production ecosystem with total heterogeneity and with a strong anti-export bias. If the government does not take up the challenge with a global plan, stability alone is not enough. We have to work hard so that it is not another missed opportunity that the world offers us ”, remarked Sica.
He also defined the possibility of energy development in the country as “a spectacular window of opportunity from the development of lithium and copper, two minerals that Argentina possesses in large quantities ”.
After Lula’s victory, the government tried to revive the idea of advancing with a common currency and bank in Mercosur. Sica stressed that “the currency is the last problem. We still have the double collection of tariffs”. And I conclude: “Ideological affinity has not served to build anything that deepens Mercosur. “
“All member countries today have intra-Mercosur trade that does not exceed 15%, except Paraguay which reaches 50%. We must put the economic interests of the countries before the ideological interests of the governments”, Sica slipped.
In turn, the Brazilian economist Ricardo Sennes, partner of Prospectiva Consultores, highlighted that “with Lula there will be a change from Mercosur, but it won’t be something very profound. There are structural problems: we have a very low connection with energy and digital networks and we continue to exchange between them in dollars. “
Another exhibitor, via zoom, was the Argentine ambassador to Brazil. “Lula’s arrival is very timely for his historic commitment to integration, the strengthening of Mercosur and the infinite and commitment he has with Argentina,” said Daniel Scioli.
The ambassador talked about deepening integration, with measures that could include a currency exchange for long-term trade and revive the idea of a common currency. And he also highlighted the fact that the extension of the Néstor Kichner gas pipeline to the border with Brazil allows for progress in energy integration.
Among the entrepreneurs who attended the event was Pier Paolo Barbieri, CEO and founder of Ualá. He pointed out that one of the points in favor of Latin America is that “it has a large percentage of the population under the age of 30. And we have a much higher GDP per capita than other companies that are in a similar demographic phase. Here the market gets bigger every year. Letting go of that opportunity to integrate with the United States and the European Union is shooting us in the foot. “
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Source: Clarin
