Argentina - Argentina emerging in the world

Photo: Exportar Foundation

Taste Argentina graphic campaign.

The Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched the Integrated Program for Business Promotion and External Markets Development. The program consists in 1,070 promotional activities to be carried out in the most diverse world markets throughout 2009, which surpasses the 760 actions implemented in 2008.

This year, there will be 475 activities in trade shows, 152 sectoral entrepreneurial missions, 151 training and publicity events and 113 buyers’ inverse missions, among other promotion and investment instruments.

The 2009 Calendar is available at Argentina Trade Net, the Ministry’s business portal. It offers browsers classified by country, regions and industry sectors.

Over 480 executives have confirmed their attendance, 80% of them belonging to small and medium companies which have participated in the Ministry’s promotional events before. This year, Argentine exports are expected to raise over 72 million dollars, three times as much as in 2003.

Fundación Exportar, a foundation formed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the private sector, is the agency in charge of the coordination of international trade activities. This year, as every year, it will be sponsoring many of the products to be presented overseas. Registration is already open for executives to participate in events such as World Biofuels Market in Belgium –one of the major biofuel events in the world-, Automec in Brazil, NAFSA’s massive educational fair in the U.S. or food exhibitions such as World Food Moscow, SIAL China or Fancy Food Show.

How to participate
Basically, Argentina’s commercial presence overseas can be summarized as follows:

• International Fairs and Exhibitions: The Foreign Ministry sets up good-sized booths related to the theme of the exhibition where executives will be present and/or products will be featured. The objective is not only showing manufactured products to be inserted in a given market but also generating links among peer companies or suppliers. The most important fairs of this year are: Children’s Book Fair of Bologna, Middle East Automechanica, Asia Fruit Logistica and China Education Expo.      

• Entrepreneurial Missions and Business Events abroad: sectoral or multisectoral trips are arranged –for participation in expos or just as specific visits- with the aim of creating or encouraging more specific and tighter links, in less massive contexts than in large fairs. These events may be organized as meetings, product rounds, seminars or training events. In 2009 visits to Angola, Spain, Colombia, Peru, Norway, and United Arab Emirates are to be held, to name a few.

• Argentine Week: This initiative aims to position highly differentiated Argentine products for final consumers in sophisticated markets at major department stores and supermarket chains in the world. Thus, Lafayette Stores (France), Dean & Peluca (USA) and Gum Stores (Russia), among others, will hold the Argentine Week event.
   

• Inverse Business Missions: sectoral or multisectoral business rounds in our country to be held in renowned exhibitions or foreign delegates’ visits are organized. For instance, this year Expoagro, BAF Week, Mercoláctea or Arteba will be holding business meetings with foreign executives. Another modality foreign visits may take is buyers’ rounds.

Around the World
Although most actions are to be implemented in Latin America, the Ministry intends to promote Argentina in countries like Angola, Armenia, Azerbaiyan, Kazajstan or Trinidad and Tobago. Argentine products know no frontiers and are welcomed by all cultures.

However, this year’s plan focuses on commercial links with Latin America so that regional exchange is strengthened. Also this plan seeks to value the economies which have not been undermined by the world’s financial crisis. This way, Latin America concentrates 43% of the participation in fairs abroad and Argentina will be participating in 124 fairs and entrepreneurial missions to be held in Brazil. Other countries with a high level of local presence will be:the USA (104 events), Spain (50), Mexico (35), Colombia (34), Venezuela and Japan (32), France and the United Kingdom (26), Australia (24) and China (23).

The areas with the highest participation level are: multisectoral, food and beverages, tourism, wines, book publishing and education, metallurgics, textiles and leather, agribusiness, cosmetics and labs, wood and software.

Cultural International Trade

On-line browser

This tool was created by the Secretary of Culture and is integrated to the SINCA (Argentina’s Cultural Information System), which enables searches on destination and origin of cultural exports and imports. It also establishes relationships among countries and products.

Doing business abroad

Exportar Foundation

Export.ar provides argentine businesses with assistance in their endeavours to trade their products and to access international markets. In an exclusive interview with Argentina.ar, Executive Director Marcelo Elizondo ellaborated on the foundation’s goals.

Agenda Argentina.ar

Argentina in the World

In this site agenda, all the country presence in the world´s major expos, fairs and congresses.