Argentine Ambassador to the United States, Alec Oxenford, stated that based on the trade agreement with our country, Argentina is “starting to turn in the right direction,” and noted that it is beginning to “build bridges” with the world to attract investments.
The ambassador said in radio statements: “This is like a marathon, and we are starting to run in the right direction. We have not gotten there, and there is still a long way to go, but Argentina is sending a signal to the world that it is more stable, more reliable, and moving in the right direction.”
Then he came to the crossroads of criticism launched by the Province of Buenos Aires, which described its impact on Buenos Aires’ industry as “negative.” It was Augusto Costa, Minister of Production in Axel Kiselov’s government, who confirmed that “this agreement has an impact in the province.”
In this sense, Oxenford responded by ensuring that Buenos Aires could be one of the main beneficiaries of the agreement by saying that “the province of Buenos Aires is not in a very good position and would be better off.” He added: “This will be understood in detail once the agreement is signed.”
“One area of content that is already clear is the change in the access of the Argentine meat market to the US market. This positively affects the province of Buenos Aires. It is ridiculous (to think that it will be negative),” the ambassador stressed.
“Bridges with the world”
The diplomat stressed that the Argentines “spent 80 years building walls,” but now “we are starting to build bridges with the United States and the world,” and for this reason “it has become easier to attract investments.”
“We come from many decades of suffering, with bad decisions,” Oxenford said. “A lot of people are still suffering, because there is still a long way to go, but the key is to be honest, because it is worth this time and we are moving in the right direction.” He also considered it “very relative” to compare what each country gave up in the agreement with Washington, and explained that “one economy is much larger than the other.”
To assess the scope and impact of the agreement, other similar treaties in US history should be used, the ambassador said, citing as examples Poland in 1991, after the fall of communism, and Korea in the late 1950s, after the civil war. “Poland emerged from years of statism and communism, and Argentina emerged from years of statism and populism. In 1991, the United States approached and began the process of fiscal discipline and privatization. Poland’s GDP multiplied by seven from then until now,” he recalls.
In the second example, Oxenford stated that “Korea was emerging from a massive civil war and a lot of state control when support arrived from the United States. There was a complementarity of economics, security and development that attracted investment, and even today its per capita output has increased 20 times.”
After stressing that “this is the first time since the 1940s that we are on the right side of history,” he pointed out that this is the “right path” that begins “the process of generating sustainable and long-term prosperity.”
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