Governor Maximiliano Pullaro led the opening of Santa Fe Business Forum, a meeting organised by the provincial government, which seeks to promote trade and international investment. Representatives of almost a thousand companies -mostly from the province and the region-, more than 200 buyers from 40 countries and 32 ambassadors are taking part in the activity, which will last until Thursday at La Fluvial in the city of Rosario.
Santa Fe Business Forum features an international business round, an Investment Promotion Forum, and an auditorium for presentations, training and education. In addition, representatives of foreign firms can meet companies from the region.
"We are very happy, because with a lot of hard work and coordination we have achieved the most important event of the year in our country", said the governor in his speech, who told those present that "you are in the most productive province of the Argentine Republic and that it will take Argentina forward, because we are the countryside, industry, trade, but we are also the ports and universities that generate knowledge, and we are convinced that this is the route that will take our country forward".
Pullaro then recalled that when he took office "we had to take very important actions to put the accounts of the provincial state in order, which had a fiscal deficit and a very large floating debt, and we said we were going to put order and be efficient in the administration of state resources, and seven months later we managed to balance the accounts due to the productive power that the province of Santa Fe has".
He also stressed that "this is a province that has taken on international debt on more than one occasion, but it has always honoured its international commitments, and today we have a solid economy: every month the resources we have in the province's accounts are similar to the 30-year debts that the province of Santa Fe has".
We are an efficient state," Pullaro continued, "and the state is also this: it is public-private articulation, it is a way of generating possibilities so that the private sector can grow, develop and find new markets. We are convinced that Argentina has an immense possibility of moving forward, and it will do so if it puts resources into strengthening the productive system, in roads, in energy, in connectivity, in knowledge, in strengthening our universities, to generate added value and, from there, our economy can grow and create jobs," he concluded.
Showing the power of Santa Fe
Meanwhile, the vice-governor of the province, Gisela Scaglia, affirmed that "this is an event that puts us at the top and it was what we wanted to show the world: the power of Santa Fe, the power of a city like Rosario, but also the power of the productive interior".
The opening ceremony, held in the Embarcadero Hall, was also attended by the Mayor of Rosario, Pablo Javkin; the provisional president of the Chamber of Senators, Felipe Michlig; the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Clara García; the ministers of Productive Development, Gustavo Puccini; of Government and Public Innovation, Fabián Bastía; and of Economy, Pablo Olivares; the Undersecretary of Promotion of Exports and Investments of the Argentinean Chancellery, Ramiro Velloso; the Secretary of Foreign Trade of the province, Georgina Losada; among others.
Calendar
During the Santa Fe Business Forum there will be parallel activities in three different areas of La Fluvial. In the auditorium, the ambassadors of Indonesia, the European Union and Morocco will speak, as well as the specialist in international business Marcelo Elizondo together with the Secretary of Production Coordination, Juan Alberto Pazo. The National Secretary of Commerce, Pablo Lavigne, and the Secretary of Small and Medium Enterprises and Knowledge Economy, Marcos Ayerra, among others, will also speak. The investment forum will focus on the Knowledge Economy. There will be funds on the one hand and start-ups on the other. There will be panels where speakers will tell different provincial cases, referring to their experience of international funding and subsequent development. The aim is to link investors with different companies in the region so that they can follow the same path.
