MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine president manages an all encompassing Social Pact, but farmers did not show up

President Alberto Fernandez with ministers and representatives from different organizations and unions during discussion at Government House

Argentine president Alberto Fernandez together with business people, union leaders and representatives from social groupings launched the social pact, called “Argentine commitment for development and solidarity”, with the purpose of achieving long term consensus that goes beyond a presidential mandate (four years), and includes “shared goals which can be crystallized in different chapters”

“The idea of the Accord is to begin with a frank dialogue to address the problems we face, the whole of Argentina has problems, we know some are in a worse position than others, but I repeat the whole of Argentina has problems”, president Fernandez said at the meeting held in Government House, Casa Rosada last Friday.

The agenda includes priority issues such updating pensions and public utilities rates, the creation of quality jobs, encourage productive investment and exports with added value, facilitate access to bank credit for housing and production as well as promoting the small and medium size companies.

It also points out that the future discussion of the next federal budget in Congress, “represents a first opportunity for, in the framework of a adequate analysis of costs and resources, the agreements reached in the different dialogue tables can become operational public policies and of immediate implementation”.

Once the social pact was signed Development minister Daniel Arroyo, the head of the Argentine Industrial Union Miguel Acevedo and Hector Daer for the unions' umbrella organization CGT, answered questions from the media.

Arroyo said that the most immediate challenge was hunger in Argentina, while Daer argued that the accord wants to convince creditors that there is a country which wants to honor its debts and obtain facilities for growth and development.

The head of the industrial lobby, Acevedo underlined how supportive the meeting had been, and described it at the starting point for long term discussions.

President Fernandez said that Argentina for two years running has seen a fall in consumption and industrial activity has been sliding nonstop for twenty months and “this needs to be reverted now, so that industry invests, grows, so that we can export, generating jobs, that the economy begins to move again the way we all dream and the main idea is that we all do it together”.

The main cabinet ministers attended the meeting as well as the above mentioned leaders, and from other production and social organizations. However, farmers who have been anticipated, by law, an increase in export duties and have started protests with tractors and vans in Argentina's main highways, were notoriously absent.