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Ambassador Mamet: Argentina Seeking Foreign Investment (Audio) · Bloomberg Intelligence

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  Speaker 1: I'm Charlie Pellett and that's a bloom Bread business flash.
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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Taking Stock with Kathleen Hay and Pim
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  Speaker 1: Fox on Bloomberg Radio. Argentina, Brazil, Latin America in the
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  Speaker 1: news for so many well deserved reasons, and of course,
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  Speaker 1: not the least of which for Argentina is the fact
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  Speaker 1: after years of the rule of Christina Fernandez de Kirchen
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  Speaker 1: of the former president, which was followed by a recession
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  Speaker 1: that is now in the third quarter, Argentina is seeing
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  Speaker 1: quite a turnaround and a great deal of optimism from
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  Speaker 1: not only people within the country but investors. After President
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  Speaker 1: Modicio Macri took over in December, one of his first
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  Speaker 1: accomplishments was revolve having a fifteen years standoff in April
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  Speaker 1: with creditors, a dispute over government bonds that were defaulted on.
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  Speaker 1: This has opened the door again to optimism and investment.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, is what Argentina is seeking now, to to
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  Speaker 1: bring this to us from the other side, because this
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  Speaker 1: is not just Argentina turning to the rest of the world.
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  Speaker 1: This is the rest of the world, including the United States,
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  Speaker 1: turning to Argentina. Let's bring in. On that note, Noah
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  Speaker 1: mamout he is our US ambassador to Argentina. Uh. The
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  Speaker 1: US embassy, of course is in Buenos Aires, but he
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  Speaker 1: is in New York City with us today. Welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the show. Than thanks for having me. Well, first of all, um, Argentina,
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  Speaker 1: you're an ambassador. Uh. How did what is this like?
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  Speaker 1: I mean it must I've always got to be kind
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  Speaker 1: of a very interesting job to be an ambassador to
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  Speaker 1: a country. It is especially a country that's going through
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  Speaker 1: a big transformation. I got there a year and a
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  Speaker 1: half ago. Uh. Sometimes I say we exaggerate in politics,
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  Speaker 1: but it is totally true. It's a degree difference from
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  Speaker 1: just a year ago. This new administration is trying to
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  Speaker 1: correct these macro economic problems and they're re engaging with
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  Speaker 1: the world. When the first to act of President Mochriy
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  Speaker 1: was to go to Davos, they haven't had a president
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  Speaker 1: there and over fifteen years. Uh. He just came back
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  Speaker 1: from Sun Valley and then you know, he's very interested
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  Speaker 1: in Silicon Valley technology, innovation, renewable energy, but basically re
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  Speaker 1: engaging with the world. So the fact that we're there now, uh,
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  Speaker 1: and we have a much bigger agenda than we used
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  Speaker 1: to have. Is really exciting, very interesting. He's down to earth. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: He speaks fluent English, so does his wife. They come
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  Speaker 1: to the States, they have all their life back and forth.
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  Speaker 1: He's very international. I think he's very competitive. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: we've played a game called paddles, kind of like paddle tennis,
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  Speaker 1: and he doesn't like to lose. But he's very intelligent.
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  Speaker 1: His cabinet, interestingly, about half of it, I would say,
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  Speaker 1: came from the private sector, and it's the first time
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  Speaker 1: in the history of Argentina you have anybody really from
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  Speaker 1: the private sector going into government. So they have a
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  Speaker 1: different outlook. And of course that President Macri has invited
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  Speaker 1: about two thousand people, including the CEOs of BP and
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  Speaker 1: DOW to an inaugural business summit. Some people are calling
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  Speaker 1: that and Mini Davos. What do companies, including US companies
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  Speaker 1: want to see from Argentina now in terms of conditions
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  Speaker 1: to invest there? Are they looking for changes? Are they
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  Speaker 1: looking for incentives? So we have over five hundred US
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  Speaker 1: companies that operate and do business in Argentina, many for
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  Speaker 1: a hundred years. So if you look back and sort
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  Speaker 1: of the history of commerce between the two countries. There's
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  Speaker 1: major companies like Ford, like City Bank. The first place
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  Speaker 1: they went outside the US was Argentina during the boom
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  Speaker 1: times of Argentina. So whether it's those those companies, or
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  Speaker 1: Coca Colas or Dows or Exon, I mean, they're all there,
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  Speaker 1: and so it's really important that we increase trade and
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  Speaker 1: commerce and we focus on the three things you asked. Stability, predictability,
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  Speaker 1: and transparency, I think are what companies are looking for
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  Speaker 1: about openness to investment because we know that Argentina is
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  Speaker 1: home to the world's second biggest shale deposit, second biggest
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  Speaker 1: exporter of soy, and it's one of the world's biggest
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  Speaker 1: beef producers. And let's don't forget all that delicious Argentinian
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  Speaker 1: and wine. But are they are the Argentina is open
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  Speaker 1: to having foreign investment in these areas that have been
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  Speaker 1: such a huge staple of their economy. They are now.
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  Speaker 1: This is one of the big changes with this government
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  Speaker 1: compared to the last government. They're looking for foreign direct investment,
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  Speaker 1: they're looking for new markets. I'll give you one anecdote.
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  Speaker 1: Much of their economy is tied to Brazil, and so
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  Speaker 1: obviously there's challenges in Brazil right now and that prevent
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  Speaker 1: that that that is headwinds to the economy of Argentina.
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  Speaker 1: I went and visited a Ford manufacturing facility for the
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  Speaker 1: first time ever. They're producing trucks and selling to Mexico
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  Speaker 1: because they need new markets and can't just rely on
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  Speaker 1: Brazil any longer. I think that's the silver lining to
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  Speaker 1: what's happening in Brazil for Argentina. That's of course, that
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  Speaker 1: would make provi a good sense that Argentina and Brazil
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  Speaker 1: on both sides, they each have to be one of
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  Speaker 1: their own biggest markets. And Delmo recept the president Brazil
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  Speaker 1: no surprise, the Senate did vote to impeach or have
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  Speaker 1: people in Argentina been talking about that and they've been
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  Speaker 1: concerned about it, are looking like, oh, this will be
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  Speaker 1: a good thing, a relief. I think it's a concern.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's a challenge. Like I said, even if
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  Speaker 1: this government does everything right, the fact that they're so
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  Speaker 1: tied about thirty of their economy to Brazil is a
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  Speaker 1: big challenge. And so when I give the example about
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  Speaker 1: Ford now having a new market in Mexico, I think
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  Speaker 1: that's the future for Argentina, which is new markets, diversify,
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  Speaker 1: increase their trade and commerce around the world. That's exactly
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  Speaker 1: what they're trying to do, not just rely you mentioned
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  Speaker 1: soy to China and other places, but actually have value
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  Speaker 1: added products. I think that's the future. Now. Argentina is
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  Speaker 1: going to be auction enough about two billion dollars of
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  Speaker 1: renewable energy projects in October Bloomberg New Energy Finance being
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  Speaker 1: if we cover a lot of this, and we have
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of US companies that are trying very hard
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  Speaker 1: to grow their business to mess partically. So, uh, is
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  Speaker 1: there something that you're trying to do to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that American economies can bid and maybe win some of
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  Speaker 1: those projects. So recently I took thirty Argentine's ten from
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  Speaker 1: the government in twenty from the private sector to California,
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  Speaker 1: where I'm from. The whole idea is wou spend a
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  Speaker 1: week to focus on technology, innovation and renewable energy. Renewable
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  Speaker 1: energy is a huge opportunity I think for both our
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  Speaker 1: countries to work together. Right now, Argentina gets less than
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  Speaker 1: one percent of its energy from solar and wind, although
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  Speaker 1: they have some of the best sun in the north
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  Speaker 1: and the best wind in the south and Patagonia. So
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  Speaker 1: what we're trying to do is help them on the
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  Speaker 1: technology side from experts at Department of Energy and State,
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  Speaker 1: along with investors, whether that's solar or that's wind. I
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  Speaker 1: compare that to Los Angeles where I'm from, and nearly
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  Speaker 1: half of our energy nearly fifty is going to come
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  Speaker 1: from solar and wind in the next two or three years.
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  Speaker 1: So that's a huge opportunity for us to invest there
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  Speaker 1: to make money, but also to help the Argentine economy.
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  Speaker 1: And the Chinese have been very assertive, very aggressive, trying
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  Speaker 1: to get business ties in Africa, in South America, and
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  Speaker 1: some people would say they're ahead of us the United States,
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  Speaker 1: that is on both fronts. I know that President Macri
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  Speaker 1: wants to expand his nation's role as a trade partner,
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  Speaker 1: has reached out to Asian nations in Europe, etcetera. Would
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  Speaker 1: you would the US consider doing trade deals directly with Argentina.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's the ways off. It's probably in the future.
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  Speaker 1: The one thing we have seen President Macri do is
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  Speaker 1: go to the Pacific Alliance as an observer for the
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  Speaker 1: first time. They've had a high levels are so potentially
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  Speaker 1: maybe individual trade deals with Pacific Alliance countries. Right now,
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  Speaker 1: they're still trying to get Microsore to do a trade
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  Speaker 1: deal with Europe. It's complicated because of Brazil as being
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  Speaker 1: one of the players now and with the political uncertainty there.
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  Speaker 1: So I think Argentina is uniquely situated, as President Macri says,
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  Speaker 1: the trade both to the West and the East, because
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  Speaker 1: of their location and the and the product and what
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  Speaker 1: they have to offer. So for US again, five U
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  Speaker 1: S companies there, I think it's a great opportunity visa
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  Speaker 1: visa waivers. This is something apparently Argentina is very interested in.
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  Speaker 1: More broadly, how does this work with most countries? What
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  Speaker 1: is Argentina is seeking? What is this administration willing to do?
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  Speaker 1: It's a great question. President Obama was there earlier this year.
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  Speaker 1: We just had Secretary of State John Kerry. But on
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  Speaker 1: President Obama's trip, the Argentines announced they were dropping the
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  Speaker 1: reciprocity fee, so Americans no longer have to pay a
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty dollars per person to travel there. It's
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  Speaker 1: free to travel there, and we in basically in exchange,
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  Speaker 1: we said, okay, if you're under sixteen or over sixty
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  Speaker 1: five and your Argentine. You no longer have to come
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  Speaker 1: into the embassy for an interview. The whole idea is
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  Speaker 1: to promote travel and tourism both ways. It helps the
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  Speaker 1: economies both. In Secretary Carry when he was there just
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  Speaker 1: a few weeks ago, we also focus on travel and tourism.
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  Speaker 1: So this is a big opportunity for US. And we
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  Speaker 1: announced that Argentina will be the ninth country in the
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  Speaker 1: world to be able to have the global entry, which
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  Speaker 1: is a really big deal. Yes, there's visa waiver program,
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  Speaker 1: but the reality is a global entry is so much
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  Speaker 1: better for folks who are coming into the US a lot. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: Final question, what's the number one thing about Argentina Businesses
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  Speaker 1: or tourists from this country should know if they're thinking
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  Speaker 1: of taking a trip or trying to get some business there. Well,
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  Speaker 1: there's this investment conference that that you mentioned earlier September
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  Speaker 1: twelve through fifteenth at the government and the private sector
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  Speaker 1: is organizing. You have the CEOs of Coca Cola and
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  Speaker 1: Dow and VP and lots of CFOs and CEOs from
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  Speaker 1: around the world. I think that's a good opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: go down there and judge for themselves and and then
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  Speaker 1: we'll see. I mean, they should only do what they
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  Speaker 1: feel they're comfortable with, but I think it's a great
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to judge. All right, Well, nor Mamma, thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much for joining us. Thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: having me. You have to come back and tell us
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  Speaker 1: how it's going. And I want to wish my mom
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  Speaker 1: a happy birthday. What's her name, Millima met Mili my man,
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  Speaker 1: happy birthday. What a lovely son you have joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: The Ambassador to do Argentina from the United States, Noah,
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  Speaker 1: ma Met. I'm Kathleen Hayes. This is Bloomberg