MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US support for Argentina . Testing European consumers

United States government publicly endorsed Argentina's latest efforts to resume talks with the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Barbados for the General Assembly of the Organization of American States, OAS, said "we welcome the recent bills passed by the Argentine Congress and progress in making effective fiscal agreements with the provinces". In his short statement Mr. Powell was referring to the three IMF requisites to begin talks with Argentina, that is the derogation of the "economic subversion" bill, modification of bankruptcy legislation and the commitment of the regional governments to drastically cut deficits by 60%. "I talked with Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Carlos Ruckauf, and I told him how much we value Argentine democracy and its cooperation as a close ally of NATO. We want to support Argentine in its talks with the IMF to achieve a sustainable economic recovery", stressed Mr. Powell. This week a majority of the 24 Argentine provinces, including the most important, Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba and the city of Buenos Aires, agreed to a significant expenditure reduction, one of the financial (and political) stumbling blocks preventing an understanding with the IMF. In Buenos Aires, Alfredo Atanasof, chief cabinet minister of president Duhalde administration and Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna indicated that the country was ready to request the IMF to send a negotiating team to Buenos Aires. However Argentine officials admitted that there could be a delay in the arrival of the mission, since the IMF apparently is not totally convinced about the derogation of the "economic subversion" bill. The bill was eliminated in the Senate by just one vote, 35/34, but some of its provisions were incorporated to the Argentina Penal Code. Bankers and businessmen have complained that the bill, dating from 1974, is too ample, could lead to arbitrary arrests and overall is seen as judicially imprecise.

Testing European consumers

Uruguayan and Spanish researchers will be involved in a three years joint program to detect meat consumers tastes in Britain, Germany and Spain. The program is targeted to promote Uruguayan beef and lamb sales to the European Union, following European standards and preferences in the framework of the current Uruguayan production systems. Six hundred consumers, 200 in each of the three countries, will be randomly tested during the three years to detect the type and quality of meat they prefer, based on four main cuts, two from Corriedale lambs and two from Herefords. The Uruguayan cuts will be "blindly" offered to the European consumers in combination with the local four most common and demanded meat products in the three countries. The two types of Corriedale lambs will be in the 38/42 and 22/24 kilos live; Herefords in the 480/500 kilos live category with an average age between 34 and 36 months, and a second category, 440/460 kilos with 22/24 months average age. Cattle and sheep will be bred and closely monitored in two research centers in Uruguay, with local experts working next to scientists from the Zaragoza University and the Spanish Agriculture Research Institute. All the animals will be organically bred, feeding on Uruguay's natural pastures. The program is jointly sponsored and financed by Brussels and the Uruguayan government.