The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, and the Minister of Production, Francisco Cabrera, welcomed today representatives from the Business Convergence Forum (Foro de Convergencia Empresarial).

The following officials attended the event: Claudio Cesario, Coordination Secretary of the Forum and representative of ABA; Dardo Chiesa (Confederaciones Rurales Argentinas); Daniel Pellegrina (Sociedad Rural Argentina); Miguel López (Next Latinoamérica SA); Daniel Indart (FADEEAC); Jorge Alvarez (Unión Argentina de Entidades de Servicios UDES); Mario Grinman (Cámara Argentina de Comercios y Servicios); Manuel Aguirre (AmCham); Maria Elena Aguerre (Euro Cámara Argentina); Domingo Iraeta (CREA); Guillermo Pedoja (Cámara Empresaria del Medio Ambiente); Angel Daniel Vergara del Carril (Cámara de Sociedades Anónimas); Analia Canale (CAMBRAS); Marcelo Kaufman (ADECRA); Carlos Lannizzotto (Coninagro); Javier Allub (Consejo Empresario Mendocino); Pablo Taussig (ACDE); Arturo Acevedo (ACINDAR); Elizabeth O’Donnell (Asociación Dirigentes de Empresas); Jorge Vasconcelos (IERAL y Fundación Mediterránea); Aldo Elías (AHT); Ricardo Andino (CAVERA); Fernando Frávega y Guillermo Lipera (Colegio de Abogados de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires); Jorge González (UDES); Oscar Correa (Fundación Carlos Pellegrini y Cámara Española de Comercio); Graciela Fresno (Federación Empresaria Hotelera Gastronómica de la República Argentina); Nahuel Caputto (Comisión Empresaria de medios de comunicación independientes); Rodrigo Pérez Graziano (CCIFA); Jorge Saumell (IAEF); Oscar Perez (CIRA); Juan Manuel Haddad (CICOMRA); Juan Chediack (CAMARCO); and Gustavo Koch (CAEM).

At the meeting, the participants talked about the measures of the economic plan developed by the National Government to sustain the economic growth and about the decision to begin negotiations with the IMF.
The Business Convergence Forum consists of enterprises, professionals, foundations and NGOs.

Claudio Cesario, representing the Business Convergence Forum said: “We support the measures the Government is implementing; resorting to the IMF is reasonable for us and other countries of the region have done the same. We recognize the Government’s reaction capacity and its prediction capacity. The meeting was very positive, we believe in the public-private dialogue and in trying to look for solutions together. From ABA, we see a solid and reliable system. We don’t have conflicts or special situations. Today we are experiencing a record in deposits in Argentine pesos”.

Juan Chediack, of the Construction Board, said: “They have shown a technical and financial capacity to face this turbulence. We have a historical record of working force in the Argentinean Building Workers Union (UOCRA): 440 thousand jobs”.

Manuel Aguirre Amcham added: “No investment plan is revised. The head offices welcomed the negotiations with the IMF. It represents coverage within the framework of our country’s financing needs”.

Daniel Pellegrina, form the Argentinean Rural Society, talked about the dialogue and joint work with the Government and said: “We have been working with the Government since the beginning of the Administration in competitive sectors such as meat and the forest industry and they work really good”.

March 13, 2018

The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, gave a speech this morning at the panel “Infrastructure Financing: the Argentine PPP plan”, held at the CCK building within the framework of the Launch of the Regional Express Network (RER, for its acronym in Spanish), which will be developed through the Public-Private Partnership tool.

During his speech, the Minister of Finance talked about the opportunities Argentina has to offer and about the PPP scheme as a tool to settle the country‘s infrastructure debt. In this sense, Caputo said that “this Administration’s greatest challenge is to settle this debt because, at the same time, we want to lower deficit and taxes”.

Likewise, Caputo defined the PPP tool as the “most affordable, safe, efficient and transparent way to develop infrastructure” and he explained that “the studies conducted in England evidence that 30% of public works were completed within the budget, compared to the 80% of PPP projects”. Regarding the delay to complete the projects, Mr. Minister said that “in public works the average was 25% and in PPP only 1%”.

The Minister of Finance also highlighted “the financial engineering of the PPP scheme which makes it an attractive option for investors and which is more affordable and efficient for the Government”. “We have achieved the ideal combination to attract investors and to generate more competition to obtain the lowest cost”, Mr. Minister highlighted. In addition, Caputo said that “there are already 60 projects amounting USD 30 billion, which this year will be added to the 1.5% of GDP in infrastructure budget” and which “will represent 1% per year in the next 4 years”.

The Undersecretary of PPP, José Luis Morea, explained the risk structure and distribution at the panel “Financial structure of the PPP project for RER”. This way, he said, “PPP projects have a solid technical structure”, and he highlighted that the “financial-legal structure is efficient and mitigates risks”.

During his speech, Morea said that “our goal is to maximize competition, which will attract local and international enterprises, thus generating convenient and sustainable offers for everybody”. “For enterprises to engage in 5-year works, it is necessary to mitigate the risk of the agreement remaining unperformed”, he added.

Likewise, Mr. Undersecretary said that the team of the Ministry of Finance is “taking into account the successful experience of other countries in the region, such as Chile, Peru and Colombia”. “We offer the best projects, ready for tender. We also create great incentives for the projects to be attractive and financed by the private sector”, Morea added.

Finally, he talked about transparency in tender processes, which can be consulted on the Under-secretariat of PPP website. “In addition, we have the support of the following bodies: the Argentine Anti-corruption Agency, the General Auditing Office and the Bicameral Commission of PPP Agreements Follow-up of the Congress”, he added.

The RER is a new railway system that will connect the 6 metropolitan trains of the City of Buenos Aires, avoiding transfers to get to the central area of the City of Buenos Aires or to travel through the different municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of the City of Buenos Aires (RMBA, for its acronym in Spanish).

The following officials participated in the Launch: the Vice Chief of Cabinet of Ministers, Gustavo Lopetegui; the Minister of Transport, Guillermo Dietrich; the Secretary of Transport Planning, Germán Bussi; the Secretary of Transport Public Works, Manuela López Méndez; the Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta; and the Secretary of Public Ethics, Transparency and Fight Against Corruption, Laura Alonso.