The new Minister of Productive Development, Daniel Scioli, defined himself as a “productivist, a born developer”, while again rejecting the existence of a stocks on the dollar and gave as an example of this the volume of imports that currently exists.
In an interview with Télam, Scioli said that the challenge of the government coalition is “to have a high sense of responsibility” and assured that his arrival at the Productive Development portfolio is not based on “any speculation that has to do with political issues. “, ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.
Scioli, who took office on Wednesday before President Alberto Fernández, anticipated that his “first activity” will be a meeting with SMEs and then with the leadership of the Argentine Industrial Union, in the first days of next week.
Here are the main sections of the interview with Télam:
-Télam: Have you already defined where the axis of your management will be?
Daniel Scioli: The axis is going to be put to work side by side with each sector, with each company. I am a productivist, a born developer, so it is going to happen there. My best offices are going to be the factories and I am going to be available to companies and workers.
-T: The dollar issue is central to the current agenda. How is this going to work with the productive sector?
-DS: We are with a record of imports. This must be put in the context in which the world is living, with increases in energy and food prices. With good judgment, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Economy seek to optimize the stock of reserves and at the same time generate more reserves through greater exports, attracting investment and being very attentive to speculative maneuvers due to stock accumulation or taking advantage of the exchange rate gap.
-T: What response do you have when from the business sector they say that there is a trap with the dollar?
-DS: There is no trap. Imports are currently double what they were in previous years. Therefore, the judicious, optimal use of reserves, such as permanent monitoring, seems to me to be an act of responsibility.
-T: Will the officials who were with Matías Kulfas continue? Do you plan to create a new secretariat?
-DS: The secretaries are confirmed. Creating new areas certainly not, because we have little time and a lot of work to do. We have an ordered ministry, with a program with clear lines of action. I am going to focus on the problem of SMEs, also in the area of knowledge, to continue industrializing Argentina and the issue of mining as a sector for generating dollars.
-T: Is mining going to be a key sector in your management?
-DS: It is a sector that has matured a lot with respect to sustainability, environmental care, there is also a growing interest in large investments in everything that is copper, lithium and other metals. We are going to meet with each of the sectors.
There is no trap. Currently imports are double what they were in previous years
All that are strategic places and genuine generators in this context will have great relevance and particularly everything that is happening with Vaca Muerta and the commissioning of the gas pipeline.
-T: Beyond the fact that Internal Trade is no longer in the Productive Development orbit, does the issue of prices, inflation, worry you?
-DS: Everything has to do with everything. I am one of those who believe that although there are direct functions of the ministries and secretariats, we can all help. The Ministry of Productive Development, in terms of generating foreign exchange, increasing installed capacity and increasing supply, can also collaborate with this issue, which is a priority on the agenda of the Ministry of Economy, which is the fight against inflation.
-T: Your arrival at Productive Development, plus the incorporation of Agustín Rossi to the AFI, can it be read as a new political stage of the government?
-DS: These are the changes that the President has decided to readjust the functioning of his Government, for governability, for management. When he sent me to Brazil, the President told me very clearly: ‘Daniel, do what you have to do, but we have to direct the relationship with Brazil.’
-T: What did Alberto Fernández ask you when he summoned you now?
-DS: First of all he asked me to take over. Second, that I develop all my experience. And then there is the trust factor, which comes from knowing each other for so many years. And she repeated the same thing he told me when he commissioned me to do the Brazil theme: ‘Do what you have to do’.
-T: What reading does the politician Scioli, now Minister Scioli, have of this coalition government in which there are tensions? How is his link with the different legs that the government coalition has?
-DS: I think we have to have a high sense of responsibility, which was the meaning of the 2019 vote, people saying move to defend us. In this case, in diversity, in the internal debate that may take place, we must remain united and I have a very good relationship with all the sectors that I have been working with for many years with different responsibilities.
I am going to dedicate myself to my responsibilities that have to do with the laws that are pending in Congress, such as the auto parts law, Buy Argentino, the agro-industrial law, to find support for State policies and common interests with all sectors. politicians
-T: How was the work in Brazil to be able to fulfill what the President entrusted to you, to make the relationship with Jair Bolsonaro more fluid, because there was a lot of noise?
-DS: It is my specialty, in terms of managing to ‘de-stress’ situations, resolve this issue of the relationship in a pragmatic way, because the relationship went through very bad times, and that was reflected in any indicator that one took: the controversies that were unresolved, the decline in bilateral trade, Brazil had ceased to be Argentina’s number 1 trading partner. Despite the fact that I arrived in Brazil in the midst of a pandemic, one by one I visited all the states, I met with the governors, with the prefects, and in this way we mobilized opportunities for Argentina.
-T: What is your reading of the opposition and the situation of confrontation observed in Parliament?
-DS: I am going to dedicate myself to my responsibilities that have to do with the laws that are pending in Congress, such as the auto parts law, Buy Argentino, the agro-industrial law, to find support for State policies and common interests with all sectors. politicians.
-T: Are you seeing on the horizon of 2023 the possibility of being a candidate for President again?
–DS: In my arrival at the Ministry of Productive Development there is no speculation that has to do with political issues. What I’m looking for is to help at this time. The best way to collaborate is to do my job well.
-T: How does the construction of the Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline impact the Ministry of Productive Development?
–DS: When I was in Brazil I was already talking about the importance of the gas pipeline. It is a work of binational impact with Brazil and particularly to solve the structural problem of historical deficit that we have in Argentina, to be able to export more and more gas. It will have an impact for the national economy of saving foreign exchange, of fiscal savings. And all that we can collaborate with those who carry out this project -whether in the public or private sector- we are at your disposal.
The axis is going to be put to work side by side with each sector, with each company. I am a productivist, a born developer, so it is going to happen there
-T: Finally, the elections in Brazil are in the process of definition, with Lula and Bolsonaro as the main candidates. Could the future president of Brazil be decisive for Argentina?
–DS: It will give us a very important embryo if we agree on these points that I have identified as priorities: energy integration, infrastructure integration, the monetary issue, fertilizer plants, industrializing lithium because electromobility is coming. All these factors are key and I have discussed it in depth with the current government and with Lula in particular.
