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The businessmen, with a desire to ask more
Clarin
April 10, 2010

They left with the same doubts that they had over INDEC, the embargo and the swap

by Ana Baron

The lunch that was held yesterday with President Cristina Kirchner and U.S. business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce came with a warning. In a very subtle way and with a smile on his face, Thomas Donahue, the president of the chamber, said that the rise of Argentina as "an important actor in the world economy", for being a member of the G-20 and its role in the Doha Round "brings with it responsibilities." Donahue spoke of the need for a dialogue between the government and the businessmen to be able to overcome their differences.

During her speech, Cristina responded citing a phrase that Chilean President Rafael Pinera had said to Clarin a day earlier: "Only the dead and the saints have no conflict of interests."

A large number of the almost 150 business leaders with interest in Argentina present left the luncheon frustrated. And many were frankly annoyed. Consulted by Clarin at the exit of the event, there was a consensus that the questions they had about the INDEC problem, the embargo of reserves in New York, what could happen after the debt swap with the Paris Club, and the IMF and the investment climate in general in Argentina were not answered.

They said that Cristina had avoided speaking of those issues during her speech and after only three questions were put forth in writing which were filtered by the organizers.

"The message was not very solid. The questions were weak. There were other questions swirling around," said William Dalton, director for the Americas at Lockheed. "I want to know what is going to be done with the INDEC or what they will do after the swap," said another investor who asked for anonymity.

"It was a mistake for Mrs. Kirchner to use a question about piracy of intellectual property to speak about the Falkland Islands. Don't you realize that we support the British and that if they are the pirates, as she said, we are also pirates? Also I don't know why she came here to talk about the importance of the internet and how it's changing the world. I think she wasted my time," he said.

One of the thirteen businessmen that shared the main table with Cristina and Nestor Kirchner was totally surprised by the speech by Cristina and what he heard during the lunch. "Don't you know that the Argentine economy is fantastic? That it's marvelous the job done with managing to reduce the debt and after the swap there won't be any more problems?" he then joked after talking to another businessman. "They have given Judge Griesa every reason to embargo the reserves by putting an end to the independence of the Central Bank."

Another of the business leaders said that he was very frustrated in Argentina. That his business was the only one that tried to work well, but that nobody wanted to speak frankly with the government for fear of reprisal. Beyond the anger, there was also praise about "her gift of oratory" and "the way she memorizes figures." Alex Watson, of Hills & Co., said that "Cristina's speech was very different from the one she gave at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, which was full of "it's all the fault of the United States" If what she said today reflects what she really wants to do, it's very positive. We should wait and see."

Craig Kelly, assistant secretary of State argued that the event was "very positive" in the "sense of pointing out the aspects of cooperation between the two countries and also the importance of the private sector in the relationship."

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