BUENOS AIRES - Energy, digital technologies, machinery and plant engineering, pharma and medical, agri-food. The entrepreneurial mission to Argentina and Brazil, organized by Confindustria and Ice-Agenzia, is focused on these sectors, which started yesterday in Buenos Aires, the first organized by a European country in the area after the approval of the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur. The objective is to open a new phase in business relations between the two countries, in particular with the first two economies in the area, not only limiting itself to increasing exports, but creating the conditions for new industrial partnerships and new value chains.
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Leading the business delegation is the president of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini. The role of politics is decisive: the head of the system mission is the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, who will be alongside the companies and this morning will meet the Argentine president Javier Milei. The entire country system dedicated to internationalization has moved, also involving Sace and Simest. The Minister of Education, Giuseppe Valditara, will also be on the mission. And the banking and financial world will also be present, with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the Italian Banking Association, which yesterday underlined the importance of supporting the challenge of internationalisation.
«You sow to reap the results in the future. This mission started on April 23 with the arrival in Rome of the four presidents of the Mercosur business organizations. We immediately believed in this mission: we hope that it can bring home the results needed to market the best technologies and create both industrial and socio-economic partnerships", said the president of Confindustria, Orsini.
The prospects opening up in the country involve large and also SMEs, in a supply chain logic. The objectives of the Argentine government include strengthening the energy sector. The Rigi program (Incentive scheme for large investments) was launched for the key sectors of energy, oil and gas, mining, infrastructure and steel, to attract investments, with a minimum of 200 million dollars, offering tax benefits. Super Rigi, focused on lithium batteries, artificial intelligence and data centers, is also in the process of approval.
Central to this strategy is the Vaca Muerta deposit, both in terms of oil, gas and lithium. The field has resources greater than the absorption capacity of the Argentine market. To increase this potential, infrastructure is needed. In this scenario, prospects open up for our companies, in a supply chain logic. «The Milei government has decided to focus on the development of mining and gas potential, for us there are positive possibilities for collaboration», comments the vice-president of Confindustria for Energy, Aurelio Regina. The investments expected on Vaca Muerta, explains Regina, amount to approximately 20 billion dollars between extraction and logistics. They can create 20 thousand jobs, purchases of supplies for 15 billion dollars are expected and when fully operational there will be 10 billion dollars of LNG exports per year. Some large Italian companies are involved, he adds, Eni, Techint, with Tecpetrol, Bonatti and Maire Tecnimont. «We are honored that Argentina is once again at the center of interest. I believe that the match between the needs of Argentina and Italy can create various opportunities", said Andrea Rocca, president of Tecpetrol's Energy Transition.
