The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship will launch the "Federal Foreign Ministry" series of working meetings, organized by the Undersecretariat for Institutional Relations and Public Diplomacy alongside several provinces and municipalities, with a view to strengthening institutions and fostering foreign relations at the level of local governments. The aim is to achieve greater federalization of foreign action, working jointly with provincial and municipal authorities with a view to establishing the Foreign Ministry as an effective link with the world.
The meetings are specifically designed to consider local needs and are expected to be attended by a wide range of participants, including: governors; mayors; national, provincial and municipal legislators; businesspeople and representatives of local chambers of commerce; academics; students, and social organizations, among others.
This initiative will be implemented through a programme agreed on with local authorities and will feature panels on international issues of great importance for local governments, which will serve as an opportunity to share views on questions of interest, followed by a Q & A.
The goal is to make the programmes and tools developed by the Foreign Ministry for local governments available to the entire national territory, especially on economic and trade promotion. One of the aims of the programme is to provide information on the opportunities for Argentine producers in the international market, taking advantage of the operational capacity of the Foreign Ministry to know what products can access each market and what obstacles may be encountered. In addition, there will be other discussions on economic and trade issues, such as exports promotion, trade missions, and participation in international fairs. These sections will be coordinated jointly with the Argentine Investment and Trade Promotion Agency. This is intended to support the efforts of the provinces and municipalities to expand into the world.
As regards regional integration, the "Federal Foreign Ministry" programme will address the links between municipalities and the world as well as decentralized cooperation. The programme will also feature the participation of the White Helmets Commission, which will share its experience on resilience issues and humanitarian aid. Regarding the Malvinas Islands, there will be a refresher meeting on the concepts of political and territorial sovereignty, addressing, from a strategic standpoint, the involvement of all political stakeholders who may be engaged in foreign activity. Furthermore, with a view to achieving greater federalization of the foreign policy, there will be dissemination activities to promote the National Foreign Service Institute among provincial students and academics.
The "Federal Foreign Ministry" programme will also contribute to strengthening bonds between provinces and promoting experience sharing and good practices for identifying and running internationalization projects.
With a view to forging ever closer ties between the Ministry and the Argentine provinces and municipalities, the "Federal Foreign Ministry" programme seeks to support and facilitate the internationalization of local governments, in order for them to benefit from access to new markets, international cooperation and the experiences and ideas offered by the world. Greater internationalization means more employment, investment, and technology, thus improving the quality of life of the Argentine people.