“The world knocks on the door and we don’t open it”

Next Tuesday and Wednesday, Acde (Christian Association of Business Leaders) will hold its annual meeting at the Sheraton. They invite you to discuss Coexistence for Development, an open dialogue on justice, meritocracy, community and freedom. The Economy spoke with the president of Acde, Gonzalo Tanoira, and with the president of the Meeting, Fernando Oris de Roa.

—This meeting is the 25th meeting of a body like Acde, which celebrates its 70th anniversary and has the particularity of not having invited the president and that there will be a dialogue with a judge of the Supreme Court, a good sign …

Gonzalo Tanoira (GT) – We propose solutions for Argentina that somehow help to find a way out of this moment. We want it to be an extra piece of content Argentina needs to get out of the quagmire it is in. We don’t invite the president or any other politician. Yes to them who come to listen, our Meeting is more than open for them to come, but we wanted to get out of the situation, in a pre-election year; We believe society is bombarded with what different candidates think and that they don’t need an extra ACDE microphone. We wanted to give the microphone to civil society people who have valuable content from wherever they come from, we want to be as broad as possible and listen to those who think differently and can surprise us.

Fernando Oris de Roa (FOR) —With the court judge, Carlos Rosenkrantz, there will be a four-question interview by Juan Vaquer, a lawyer and member of Acde. In Rosenkrantz’s position, he has a lot to tell us about what’s going on and how the law is being applied.

– Coexistence is the title of the meeting, what message are you trying to give?

PER — From October to December we interviewed intellectuals, people from the government, from Cámpora, from different sectors to define the problems. And we saw the need to step away from the situation and start talking about what precedes the situation, how society works, what we believe in and to listen to ourselves. The listener’s reflection is the first goal. We begin by asking what a just society is, a question whose purpose is to reflect differences of viewpoint. There are several panels and one is the meritocracy analysis.

-A controversial topic …

PER – It’s an in-depth analysis to start with a more theoretical definition of what meritocracy is by Lucas Grosman, rector of the University of San Andrés, and whose doctoral thesis was on meritocracy. And supported by Pastor Gerardo Muniello, of the Presbyterian Church, because Catholic ethics differs somewhat from Presbyterian ethics with regards to merit here on earth and what it means in heaven. We ask ourselves the defects of meritocracy, that is, the starting point, which is probably unjust, and the duties of those who have privileges and rewards, what do they do with them, that is, do they use them to protect their own? and make sure they remain in a privileged position or take on debt for being rewarded by society for their merits?

– It is a debate in the midst of the turbulence that plagues Argentina

PER – It is that all this is trying to understand two things: first, getting out of the situation; and second, to be prepared for a society that is likely to suffer greatly when the necessary changes are made for a reorganization of society to become productive, producing goods, services, wealth and well-being. So we have to more or less agree on all of these issues so that when that time of phenomenal change comes, those who change, those who change that course, won’t be able to do it with contemplation, they will technically be a lot. deep. This is where we entrepreneurs come in, we will have to realize that it is our time not to think about our results as a priority, but where we will find the place from which we can help and contribute to this process is a little less painful and something less expensive.

—What change of rules, when do you expect it? Are you thinking of it in a change of political sign?

FOR – The tasks must be the same. And there will be a huge effort on the part of society, there are many people who are not trained for the new situation, who are not trained, including exporters who have sold abroad with mechanisms that would not be the ones they would have chosen freely, producers , in an economy that works for 40% illegally.

“What changes would that be?”

GT – The great crises have always represented a turning point in Argentina, it is the company that says “enough, this is not enough”. That change can be brought about by this government or by another leadership. But there will be a change, because this situation is unsustainable, we cannot continue to broadcast and pretend that changes are not necessary.

PER – Especially right now these gigantic ships of opportunity, like the food crisis, are passing by. It is reflected in product prices and the energy crisis. The president was invited to the G7. The world is knocking on our door but it’s like saying: “Look, the business is closed”. Not only do we need to open up, but also begin to see where we will expand from.

GT – It is a great opportunity. What happens is that Argentina has to make decisions, that is which side it will be on, because they will not be knocking on the door for so long if we do not make a decision which side we will be on.

-What does it mean?

GT – First, aligned with what the free world is. Argentina must be against Russia, against Putin. We encourage Argentina to be on the right side. We need funding for energy independence, to be able to export raw materials, export gas, this is what the world is asking of us today. There is a great opportunity for us. Obviously it will take time. And that’s what Fernando is referring to when he talks about the transformations Argentina needs and the support network we need to generate as business people until the benefits of these interactions with the free world begin to pay off. their fruits. The well-being of the population depends on the private investments that will come if we give signs of macroeconomic stability, which we do not have today and which is one of the main obstacles that Argentina cannot move forward with. We have been wrong for a long time, with a larger state, with more and more people dependent on the public sector and less investment that generates value and real work.

—In this situation, what is the contingency plan your companies have?

GT – In San Miguel (world leader in citrus fruits) I sell two international operations that we are very dedicated to, but global volatility, and here I export at the official exchange rate and compete with countries that do not have a split exchange rate, it is very difficult. In the lemon industry, the numbers are very limited and we prioritize the stability of the company by selling international fresh fruit businesses to focus on the sector and add more value from Argentina.

– Eliminate foreign companies and bet on Argentina. Others take the opposite step …

GT – We are Argentines.