Jorge Alejandro
Mastropietro, Ambassador of Argentina
Argentina: A place to know
Πηγή: "Politistiki
Diplomatia" Magazine, τεύχος
Ιουνίου
Argentina is a vibrant country. It is the result, in part, of a mixture
of cultures that it has experienced since its first steps as a nation.
Argentina received, as of the second half of the XIX Century until the
1950's, large flows of immigrants, mainly Spaniards and Italians but
also from other countries, most of them from the Mediterranean region.
More recent migration currents are originated in neighboring countries
-and from South America, in general- and, to a lesser extent, from Asia
(principally, Korea and China). This characteristic has given a
multicultural and cosmopolitan atmosphere to the country. The country
enjoys, nowadays, a strong economy based on a diversified productive
sector, a competitive national currency, management of healthy economic
variables and the stimulation of the internal market with social
inclusion. Eight years of sustained growth at an average rate of near 8%
annually, between 2003 and 2010, have placed our country among the
fastest growing economies. Argentina GDP grew, last year, at a rate of
9%, remaining as one of the most dynamic economies in the region, while
unemployment has been reduced from about 25%, in 2002, to 7,4%, today.
Argentina has been implementing policies for the last 8 years to rescue
the industrial sector, which had been strongly hit during the last
decade of the last Century and the first years of the present one,
through incentives directed to all industries including small and medium
enterprises. It has also experienced, in the last 8 years, a record in
foreign investments, starting from 11.3% of the GDP, in 2002, and
increasing to 23%, in 2008, the highest level of investments in the last
30 years.
The Governmental Agency for Investment Development, PROSPERAR
(www.prosperar.gov.ar), gives support all along the investment process
(from identifying opportunities and evaluating projects to the
post-investment or aftercare phase), with a network of 130 Permanent
Diplomatic Representations of Argentina throughout the world. Argentina
boosts its culture and one of its most important parts is tango. Tango,
considered Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO since
2009, has achieved world recognition and today stands out as the
country's main cultural icon. In this respect, starting this year,
Athens will be a co-host city for the World Tango Championship that
takes place annually in Buenos Aires. In June, Athens will be the seat
of the first, of many to come every year, "Tango Acropolis Festival".
Argentina is, as well, internationally known for its literary wealth as
reflected by its special guest status at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2010,
the most important editorial event, last year.
The ranks of outstanding
authors and poets include Jorge Luis Borges, our most famous exponent;
Ernesto Sabato; Julio Cortazar; Adolfo Bioy Casares and Juan Gelman,
among others, now followed by a new generation of talented young
writers. Thanks to the creation, last year, of the Program "South" to
support translations, the Argentine Government made possible the
translation and publication in Greek of Argentine writers such as Aira,
Mairal, Fresan, Pauls and Cozarinsky. With over 540 publishing houses,
the Argentine publishing industry is among the most prolific in the
Spanish-speaking world. Argentina offers one of the broadest book
selections in Latin America, on show every year at the International
Book Fair of Buenos Aires, also the largest book fair in the
Spanish-speaking world. Moreover, UNESCO chose Buenos Aires as "World
Book Capital 2011".
In the framework of this event, presently it is
possible to visit the "Babel Tower" of books, an installation by
Argentine artist Marta Minujin, made of 30.000 books from 54 countries
and in almost all the languages and dialects of the world. Minujin, a
well-known pop artist, was responsible also for the "Parthenon" of
books, exhibited in Buenos Aires, in 1983, when Argentina recovered its
democracy. The number of 30.000 is related to the quantity of missing
people -"desaparecidos"- between the years 1976 and 1983, when the
Military Junta ruled Argentina.
Neither we must forget the filmmaking
industry that has been growing during the last decade with a new
generation of talented young directors, who created the so-called "new
Argentine cinema". The local industry treasures, among other important
awards, two Oscars as "Best Foreign Film" given to "La Historia Oficial"
(1986) and "El Secreto de sus Ojos" (2010), as well as another five
nominations to this coveted award. Last but not least, in tourism
Argentina has a lot to offer. Not only Buenos Aires is a beautiful city
to visit, also the rest of the country presents great options for all
tastes from the wine-road in Mendoza (to the West of the country) to the Iguazu Falls in Misiones (East) and from the Glaciers in Santa Cruz
(over the southern part of the Andes) to the "Tren a las Nubes" -"Train
to the Clouds"- that takes you up to the clouds at 4.200 meters above
the sea level, in Salta (North). And these are only examples of what you
can do and enjoy in Argentina. For all of these things and many more to
discover, Argentina ... is a place to know.
