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Consolidate the relationship between Italy and Argentina even further and intensify commercial opportunities, especially in the energy sector. These are the priorities that emerged from the meeting “Argentina: new opportunities in the energy sector and production transition”, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Promos Italia, Ice, Italian Chamber of Commerce in Argentina, which took place on Tuesday 25 June and which follows the recent mission to Italy of President Milei and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Diana Mondino. Italy’s attention towards Argentina «is maximum – as confirmed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani who spoke in a video conference -. I plan to go to Argentina in the next few months with a business delegation, we must do more and our businesses tell us so.”
Argentina’s resources
In fact, the South American country has huge resources of oil, natural gas, renewable energy resources and the lithium game has also opened up, linked to the rare earths business. «Raw materials and rare earths are fundamental for a country like ours – underlined Tajani -, because we have to compete with China which, in fact, manages the entire sector of raw materials and rare earths such as lithium». Therefore, if Italy wants to compete on a global level it must be “freer” in the trade of these raw materials and for this reason the collaboration with Argentina in these sectors becomes strategic.
In 2023 trade at 2.3 billion euros
Italy’s relations with Argentina are traditionally excellent, also by virtue of historical and cultural ties. In 2023, trade amounted to approximately 2.3 billion euros. Now, with the new course set by Milei’s government, it could become easier to invest in Argentina, which is a “land of opportunities that are concrete today”, as explained by the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Diana Mondino. “In six months of the new government, inflation is decreasing rapidly – she added -. We have reduced public spending, and as a source of growth we are left with external spending: exports are the main growth engine that Argentina will have in the coming decades”. According to the minister, “everything can grow in Argentina” and the government is helping this new course “by trying to change the microeconomic problems at the root”. Therefore, by adjusting fiscal spending, modifying monetary policy, significantly reducing interest rates, “furthermore, the exchange rate is very stable and we have a level of unemployment that is lower than what we had years ago. These changes are fundamental”. And then there is the work of deregulation that facilitates investments and the work of companies. Thanks to all these reforms this “is the right time to invest in Argentina”, as highlighted by Giorgio Alliata di Montereale, president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Argentina, and if Italy does not get on this train “it will miss out on big opportunities”. Like the one in the Vaca Muerta area where Argentina “has hydrocarbon reserves for 300 years”, as recalled by Juan Carlos Doncel, president of Enarsa, Energia Argentina Sociedad Anonima. “We have left aside the false concept of energy sovereignty, Argentina has a window, now, from which it must take advantage and if it does not do so we will lose a unique opportunity – he concluded -. Then there was the appearance of lithium on the scene that makes us say that there will be many novelties, now there will be free export with just one authorization”.
