MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian minister travels to Argentina to discuss latest set of import obstacles

Argentine-Brazilian chamber of commerce president Jorge Rodriguez Aparicio: controls are a nuisance

Brazilian Secretary of Foreign Trade Tatiana Prazeres will be travelling to Buenos Aires next Monday to address with Argentine counterparts the extent of the last set of measures implemented by the administration of President Cristina Fernandez to slow down the flow of imports.

Prazeres is scheduled to meet with her peer Beatriz Paglieri to discuss the impact of the DJAI, or sworn statement on planned imports, which became effective February first and Mercosur trade partners consider ‘further obstacles’ to trade and Argentine business and industry describe as a ‘nuisance’ for normal supply of manufacturing and retailing.

Under the new scheme following the presentation of the DJAI, the Argentine bureaucracy under the guidance of a notorious character for his bullying attitude, Guillermo Moreno, then decides whether to authorize the operation or not.

Brazilian industry lobbies describe the new set of Argentine requirements as evidence of “growing protectionism” and a minister went as far as stating that Argentina in trade issues has always been a “permanent problem”.

Earlier this week Praceres admitted that the Brazilian government is following with increasing concern the issue and is in permanent contact with the private sector “to assess the true impact of the latest decisions”.

The president of the Sao Paulo Federation of Industries, FIESP; Paulo Skaf is currently in Buenos Aires discussing with Argentine authorities the DJAI instrument and its consequences and on Wednesday met with Finance minister Hernan Lorenzini. Following the meeting he described discussions as ‘constructive’.

FIESP argues that the DJAI scheme could impact on 74% of the universe of produce that Brazil exports to Argentina, which Skaf described as “an important trade partner and neighbour” with which we must be committed to finding “amicable and creative solutions”.

However Skaf also admitted he would like Brazilian authorities “to follow and monitor foreign trade as the Argentine government does”.

Brazil is Argentina’s main trade partner with bilateral exchange reaching over 35 billion dollars last year, but with a deficit for Argentina of 5.8 billion which the Cristina Fernandez administration wants to see balanced. For Brazil, Argentina is the region’s main trade partner and globally in the short list with China, the US and the EU.

In Buenos Aires the president of the Argentine-Brazilian chamber of commerce Jorge Rodriguez Aparicio said local business people are ‘fed up’ with the latest import controls although admitting that “there will always be trade conflicts” between the two leading Mercosur partners.

“What really makes us mad, particularly the small and medium business people is that decisions are implemented without consultations from either government’ officials. They could easily call on the chambers of commerce to try and understand the difficulties the implementation of certain measure could have. But officials have their minds in other things, they don’t buy or sell, they don’t take risks”, said Rodriguez Aparicio.

“We would like these unexpected decisions virtually out of the blue, to be announced with sufficient time. Think of a small businessman who travels to Brazil looking for clients and suddenly he finds out that a ruling is dictated which leaves him out of the market”, added the head of the chamber.

But in spite of the difficulties, Rodríguez Aparicio said he was optimistic about the trade links between both countries. “Relations with Brazil will not be absent of conflicts and commercial interests”.

”With Brazil we have very close links. We should be allies for life”, he added admitting that the Argentine government is concerned with the trade deficit with Brazil but the Brazilian government “is also concerned with its trade deficit with the rest of the world”.