Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich, Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido and Industry Minister Débora Giorgi met with Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) authorities Héctor Méndez, Juan Carlos Lascurain, José Urtubey, among others at the government house to discuss the agreements signed with China last week during President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s official trip to Beijing.
The meeting, originally scheduled for tomorrow, was instructed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner following a request by the UIA. «I am very satisfied with the meeting,» Méndez said in a press conference at the government house. He thanked Ms. Kirchner for the «celerity» in arranging the encounter with the ministers.
«We have raised our concerns, which have been discussed and made clear,» Méndez said. He announced a new meeting for February 24 to cover the technical aspects of the agreements signed with China.
The economy minister in his turn said that UIA’s specific concerns will be «addressed by the technical officials from each office.»
The ministers responded to UIA’s concerns over the direct allocation of infrastructure works that have Chinese funding and the labour conditions of Chinese workers by ratifying Ms. Kirchner remarks about the deal.
Kicillof said that the agreements seek to «favour the national production and labour» and he pointed out that they are not a «last-minute call» but «the fruits of a tree planted in 2004.» He urged business leaders to support the government’s efforts «with more investment, more jobs, to continue to walk a path of development.»
“Many of the companies within UIA that criticise (the deals) are the main beneficiaries of the government’s financing strategy,” Capitanich said earlier today. “The entire financing scheme for infrastructure works involves local companies for the delivery of goods and services,” he explained. “(With the deals) we seek a mechanism to achieve equilibrium in the balance of trade.”
Source: Buenos Aires Herald