Entrepreneurs, officials and a trip to London in search of 1,000 million pounds

Organized by the US-Argentina Chamber of Commerce (CCAB), a group of Argentines will travel to London to strengthen trade integration between the two countries, which is for the moment almost negligible: Britain was the destination of just over 1% of the total Argentine exports, while less than 1% of total imports from Argentina come from

United Kingdom

.

Britain owns the UK Export Finance, a public agency that offers a loan for UK investments abroad. The organization has just approved a £ 1,000 million loan to boost the economic activities of British companies in Argentina. The use of these funds is what Argentinian businessmen and officials are looking for.

UK companies in the country include HSBC, Shell, Pan American Energy, British American Tobacco, Aggreko, Unilever, PwC, Deloitte and BP.

The commercial trip, which will take place between 21 and 23 next, will be the third, because in 2017, the first was created to encourage dialogue. "Mission 2018 – made up of 60 businessmen and 20 national and provincial officials – laid the groundwork for further work on sectoral agendas," they told the CCAB. The sectors represented this year are:

energy

oil and gas;

mining

;

finances

and infrastructure; agro industry; knowledge economy and access to markets.

To attract the interest of British companies, a seminar will be held on May 21 at the residence of the Ambbadador of Argentina in London, where officials and businessmen will present the situation of the countries in the sectors that interest it. Among those who confirmed their presence, there are:

Dante Sica

(Minister of Production and Labor),

Gustavo Lopetegui

(Secretary of Energy), Luis Etchevere (Secretary for Agroindustry), José Luis Morea (Director General of BICE) and Pablo Quirno (Former Director of

central bank

and right hand of

Luis Caputo

).

In the financial sector, the country will seek to attract investment for public-private participation (PPP) projects. "The progress and results of the PPP in Argentina will be presented, as well as the needs and action plans adopted for this new and more complex stage, where project financing plays a key role," they said in CCBA .

In the agro-industrial sector, Argentina will seek to sell beef to Britain. "The UK has been the main market for Argentine meat for five decades, and today it is a big consumer of beef, but it imports almost exclusively from Ireland, a very interesting market for the reintroduction of Argentine meat, especially after

Brexit

"they said.

The next day, another seminar will take place, but focused on

Dead cow

, the main center of attraction that the country has today, in order to "attract British companies wishing to participate in planned exploration and exploitation projects, including oil and gas projects. ;renewable energy".

Among the companies that will participate are representatives of:

YPF

, Pan American Energy,

Shell

Argentina, Pampa Energía, Vista Oil & Gas, TGS, TGN, Neuquén's Tecpetrol and Gas and Petroleum. In addition, there will be the international service companies Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes; and the secretary of

Energy

Gustavo Lopetegui and the governor of Neuquén, Omar Gutiérrez.

That same day, it will also be the turn to talk about opportunities in the mining sector. "The goal is to attract large UK mining companies, as Argentina has several copper projects to develop which, because of their size, their infrastructure, their technology and their needs financing, will attract major lithium mining operators, a necessary factor for the development of electric vehicle production, "said representatives of the British Chamber of Commerce of Argentina.