The governor of Salta, Gustavo Sáenz, highlighted this Wednesday the “joint work” carried out with his peers from the Norte Grande with a “common agenda” and urged “build a solid regional bloc” to build “real federalism” in the country, that bets on the “social and economic development of the provinces furthest from the center of the country”.
In his address to the legislature in the start of the 125 regular session in SaltaSáenz urged to “finish” through the constitution of that regional bloc “with the budgetary discrimination suffered by the provinces far from the center of the country”, while mentioning what was achieved through the formation of the Parliament of the Great North.
“We have been protagonists of the formation of the Parliament of the North Grande, which made it possible to obtain resources for Salta from the work carried out jointly,” he said, adding that this was possible thanks to the work carried out by the governors of the Norte Grande based on a “common agenda against the injustices suffered by ” its provinces, “betting on the construction of a real federalism”
It is within this framework that he urged today to “build a solid regional bloc capable of ending budgetary discrimination in the country” as one of the premises that must be addressed to achieve the “social and economic development of the province.”
“The social and economic development of the province is problematic if two premises are not met: first, build a solid regional bloc capable of ending the budgetary discrimination that provinces far from the center of the country have suffered for decades,” said the Salta president.
Regarding the second premise, he proposed addressing “regionally the competitive advantages and productive opportunities of the region based on common public policies and shared infrastructure.”
He also held that “2022 was a very difficult year, which we overcame together”and stressed: “We do not know of divisions or cracks, we look forward, we face old and new problems to solve them and we do not waste time pointing out the guilty, but we bring solutions without pettiness and without political banners.”
“Our province has suffered and still suffers historical postponements”, he said, while indicating that “Argentina grew asymmetrically and the north had the worst part.”
For Sáenz, this was added to “the consequences of a pandemic and a war that significantly affected the economy, high levels of inflation, devastating fires, and the greatest drought in the last 50 years, which complicated production and exacerbated the problems of provincial territory”.
“None of this stopped us or does stop us. Faced with challenges, we respond with more work, with more planning and striving day by day. We are always showing our faces, facing the realities and telling the people the reality”, he specified.
During his speech, he pointed out: “We have a plan of more than 1,500 works with federal criteria throughout the province and in all areas, each one conceived, managed and executed to improve the quality of life of the people of Salta.”
“Better roads, more schools, more and better health, more and better education, more opportunities to work and grow with the goal of a fruitful province with more production and wealth generation,” he said.
Meanwhile, he insisted that “Argentina is experiencing situations of injustice that must be reversed,” and highlighted the work that is carried out in this regard with the governors of the Norte Grande provinces.
On the other hand, he assured that he is not a “delegate of any national government” but “the governor of the people of Salta, whom I represent and owe myself,” and said that he hopes that “national legislators understand that their Patria Chica comes first.”
He defined his as a “present government, open and committed to the whole of society”, and assured that he seeks “investors to come to Salta as a land of opportunities, legal security and qualified labor”.
In addition, he referred to “the water crisis, particularly deep in our north, and which is aggravated by decades of disinvestment”, and added that “we have the decision and we are working to give it a definition based on a works plan that we have come running from the very beginning of my administration”.
“Election time is approaching and we must all work to provide sincere proposals for our people, without selfishness, without sectoral interests, without the dissemination of false news, that we all suffer from it”, he indicated, and asked: “let us listen to those who need us and work tirelessly giving our body and soul”.
Finally, he made a “broad and plural” calland affirmed that he does not think “in parties or occasional gatherings but in actions of progress and well-being, in State policies that transcend us.”
“I don’t want any national leader to come raise my hand and say ‘this is the candidate of the Salteños’. I want the people of Salta to lift me up and say ‘Sáenz is the governor of each and every one of the people of Salta,’” he concluded.
