The U.S.-Argentina Commercial Dialogue Joint Statement Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Minister of Production Francisco Cabrera, are pleased to release the following Joint Statement, which outlines the overall results of the Oct. 27, 2016 meeting of the U.S.-Argentina Commercial Dialogue, in Washington, D.C.
Recognizing the increasingly strong and close commercial ties that Argentina and the United States enjoy and the importance of promoting an open and predictable environment for trade and investment, we are pleased to take note of the progress made under the U.S.-Argentina Commercial Dialogue since its March 2016 launch. We are committed to continue working cooperatively to improve overall economic and business relations between the two countries and to encourage the public and private sectors of our respective countries to increase and diversify the bilateral flows of goods and services. We reaffirm Presidents Obama and Macri’s goals, jointly expressed on the occasion of President Obama’s visit to Argentina earlier this year, of substantially increased and sustainable bilateral cooperation on trade moving forward. We are pleased that concrete steps have been taken to strengthen U.S. - Argentina commercial ties, promote innovation and creativity, and enhance commercial opportunities, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses.
Promoting Innovation and Growth Regulatory Coherence: We recognize the important positive relationship between government-wide good regulatory practices and competitiveness, particularly for small and medium-sized companies, and affirm our joint commitment to promote a business-friendly regulatory environment by encouraging the use of transparent, predictable, and consistent regulatory practices. We are pleased with the results of the Sept. 27, 2016 Argentina-U.S. Regulatory Coherence Business Roundtable in Buenos Aires, which convened government officials and business leaders to advance a discussion on the importance of regulatory coherence to strengthening industry and promoting greater trade and investment. We remain committed to the exchange of information and experiences between the United States and Argentina to encourage meaningful public engagement, the use of regulatory impact analysis, and increasing interagency consultation and coordination, with the goal of eliminating unnecessary regulatory barriers to trade and investment. We look forward to working with the private sector to organize and execute joint cooperative activities to promote good regulatory practices.
Economic Development: Economic planning alignment is an unprecedented opportunity for our citizens to participate fully in a 21st century economy characterized by innovation, research and development, value-added production and participation in the global economy. We note that the U.S. Economic Development Administration has already shared with Argentina best practices on how to develop comprehensive economic development strategies (CEDS) to increase economic development through production and competitiveness. We have agreed to continue conversations in topics relating to competitive economic development techniques and strategies, as well as effectively investing in manufacturing communities. We have agreed to identify sectors, states, and regions for collaboration on sustainable economic development and opportunity within our two countries, as well as research techniques for maximizing the workforce, promoting the use of technology, and effectively using public funds towards infrastructure. To be more competitive, we must actively work together to seize on opportunities to build economic opportunity across the Americas.
Investment Promotion: Given the important role of business attraction and retention as part of an economic development strategy, we have also engaged SelectUSA to lead investment promotion engagement. We agreed to share best practices regarding national investment attraction processes and services, investment agency structure and metrics, and identify opportunities to advance shared goals to support bilateral investment flows. Both SelectUSA and the Argentine Investment and Trade Promotion Agency will also look to identify and progressively incorporate to the cooperation agenda issues and challenges defining FDI flows in the next decades.
Creating Enhanced Commercial Opportunities Trade Facilitation: We affirm the importance of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and consider its entry into force essential to enhance competitiveness in the global market place. We recognize the instrumental role the private sector lends to the trade facilitation effort in order for governments to develop a comprehensive policy approach designed to support growth in trade and national economic competitiveness. To that end, we have agreed to a work plan on public-private sector consultation that encourages innovation, facilitates the rapid and secure movement of goods, and improves the competitiveness of supply chains in the global economy. We look forward to jointly holding an exchange in Buenos Aires before the next Commercial Dialogue Ministerial focused on how the public and private sectors can share information and experiences on methods and techniques used in creating frameworks for fruitful, transparent and accountable public-private relationships. Additionally, we recognize the important role that small and medium-sized (SME) businesses play in economic growth. Furthermore, we have identified the express delivery service industry as a critical enabler for the success of SMEs in the global economy, and in particular those innovative firms providing time-sensitive, high value products and services. We have agreed to work together in support of customs modernization initiatives and policies that facilitate express delivery across borders and look forward to hosting an interagency Argentine delegation in early 2017 at an express delivery hub.
Cooperation on Export Financing: We applaud the recent return of the Export-Import Bank to Argentina after an absence of nearly 15 years, and this week’s announcement that the U.S. Trade and Development Agency will also resume activities in Argentina after an absence of 11 years. We agree to work jointly with the Export-Import Bank and the Argentine Bank for Investments and Foreign Trade (BICE, Banco de Inversión y Comercio Exterior) to explore export financing and enterprise programs, especially for small to medium-sized businesses. We also agree to collaborate with the Export-Import Bank and BICE to develop best practices and enhance operating standards and staff capabilities within our countries’ export credit agencies.
Increasing Bilateral Cooperation Cooperation on Trade Remedies: Trade remedies are an important tool to help ensure a level playing field for trade and to provide the reassurance and confidence to our citizens that the further expansion of trade promotes fair competition and sound economic growth for all. We share a desire to promote best practices and greater transparency and predictability in the administration of trade remedies. We believe that opportunities for frank discussion between technical experts in our trade remedy authorities, such as the successful exchange in September, provides an invaluable opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how we each administer our respective trade remedy laws and is a useful way to clarify positions, learn from each other’s experiences, and discuss matters of mutual interest, all of which will help improve the trade environment for companies operating in our countries.
Conclusions The U.S.-Argentina Commercial Dialogue demonstrates our mutual respect as trading partners and our commitment to working closely together for years to come. We have directed officials, through regular dialogue and meetings of the work plan teams, to continue to seek ways to deepen the commercial relationship. We agreed that Argentina would host the next Ministerial Meeting of the U.S. - Argentina Commercial Dialogue in early 2017.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
