Ambassador: “Brazil is once again Argentina’s main trading partner”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “Brazil is once again Argentina’s main trading partner; this has been consolidating and there are good prospects ahead,” said the Argentine ambassador in an interview.

Scioli reported that an estimated US$12 billion will enter the country as exports to Brazil during this year, and pointed out that there was a trade surplus for the second consecutive month.

In October 2021, Argentine exports to Brazil totaled US$1,218.2 million and Brazilian exports totaled US$1,125.8 million, with a surplus balance of US$92.4 million for Argentina.

Argentine exports grew by 50.5% over the same month in 2020, while Brazilian exports increased by 38%.

KICILLOF AND 70 ENTREPRENEURS

The Argentine ambassador to Brazil stated yesterday that the goal of the meeting held by the governor of Buenos Aires Province Axel Kicillof with entrepreneurs in the city of São Paulo is to reduce the trade deficit with Brazil, and that Argentine exports to Brazil “have increasingly more added value.”

Scioli highlighted that yesterday was a “very important day because the two great industrial powers” of São Paulo and the province of Buenos Aires were joined, referring to the meetings last week.

On this point, he underlined: “Brazilian entrepreneurs have a particular interest in the province of Buenos Aires and Kicillof’s interest in encouraging investments and exports, and also through government measures: he is encouraging industrial parks and improving logistics, something concrete.”

The provincial leader on Tuesday headed a trade mission to São Paulo, where he met with 70 entrepreneurs from both countries at the offices of the powerful local federation of industries (FIESP) together with Scioli, and he assured that the meeting “was an even greater success than expected.”

According to the official, the meeting and the agreements create “jobs and dollars for Argentina.”

He pointed out that “Governor Kicillof made a great presentation” during the meeting he held in the Brazilian city with 70 entrepreneurs, and explained that “the province represents 60% of exports to Brazil” and that there has been a “surplus with Brazil in recent months.”

“We are seeking for exports to Brazil to have increasingly more added value, namely Argentine labor, and that investments should be made to expand our country’s productive capacity and balance the trade exchange with Brazil,” he explained.

VACA MUERTA

He also said that “the gas pipeline project linking Vaca Muerta with the south of Brazil is moving forward,” and pointed out that “beyond the political differences that may exist between Alberto Fernández and Jair Bolsonaro, what we are looking for is to work on a positive agenda for both countries, and to have permanent working meetings here and there.”

The gas pipeline, whose preliminary financing studies advanced last month, would be built between the Vaca Muerta field, in Neuquén, to the state of Rio Grande do Sul, bordering Corrientes and Misiones.

Brazil’s need to import gas has increased as a result of low water levels and droughts in the Paraná Basin, as is dependent on hydroelectric plants,.

“This is a project that can be carried out in a period of no more than 2 years and will change the matrix of economic relations with Brazil, which has always been in deficit,” the diplomat explained, indicating the Brazilian government’s “great interest” and “willingness to finance” the project.