Argentina calls on Mercosur to promote inter-trade and cut out of region imports

Thursday, October 13th 2011 - 05:56 UTC

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Minister Giorgi, “we have 460bn dollars in imports to replace”

Argentina called on Latin America to promote inter-trade among the region’s countries replacing the almost 460 billion dollars of manufactured goods from the rest of the world imported in 2010.

“More than ever we Latin Americans must consume more goods manufactured in Latin America and thus continue to substitute the huge imports from the outer-region”, said Industry minister Deborah Giorgi during the opening of a regional business round held in Buenos Aires.

“There’s enormous potential to increase inter-zone trade with added value”, underlined the Argentine minister which is closely associated with the country’s policy of substituting imports and privileging Argentine jobs and the domestic market.

Among Mercosur members, (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) “we only trade 16% of the overall commerce of the block, while the European Union absorbs among the members of Mercosur, 65% of their trade”, pointed out Giorgi.

The minister said that Mercosur purchases from other regions are made up mostly, 77%, of manufactured goods while sales of those same items by members of the block only represent 30%.

“In this scenario the Mercosur surplus with the rest of the world dropped from 55 billion in 2005 to 15 billion in 2010”, insisted Giorgi.

“To consolidate Mercosur targeted to industrial production we must strengthen regional productive chains, winning in scale and competitiveness with a greater input of innovation and technology”, added the minister.

Argentina cut off from international voluntary money markets because of its pending debts following the massive 2002 default has concentrated on a policy of substituting imports which this year is estimated to reach 8 billion dollars.

The policy based on attracting foreign companies to establish in Argentina (instead of importing) and protecting industrial sectors have caused serious controversies and disputes with Brazil and China mainly, but also with the European Union.

Categories: Economy, Energy & Oil, Investments, Politics, Argentina, Mercosur.

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mjprando
yup, I might not agree with this government, but this is the way to go. We should all stand together !
Oct 13th, 2011 - 11:24 am 0
GeoffWard2
I guess this lady knows that she is going head-to-head with CFK.

Argentina, unsrer instruction from CFK, was the nation that SET UP the trade restrictive devices between Argentina and Brasil - on over 100 different type of goods!

Do as I say, not as I do.
Oct 13th, 2011 - 12:15 pm 0
Teaboy2
There goes the mercosur and EU trade agreement out the window then - ah Protectionism at its best. Without imports fromt the rest of the world and lack of manufacturing ability or infastructure to replace such imported goods up goes inflation and interest rates. Oh and your trade agreement with china would likely go out the window too. You can not simply base you economy on exports alone and expect other to take from you but not have yo take anything back from them in return. Global import/export markets are all about give and take i.e. export and importing, not just about exporting. In other words no country is going to import from a country or block of countries that do not import from the country they are trying to export too.
Oct 13th, 2011 - 01:38 pm 0

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