AMBASSADOR WAYNE VISITS CORDOBA, ARGENTINA'S

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000232

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR WHA/BSC AND WHA/EPSC
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/OLAC/PEACHER
USDOC FOR 3134/USFCS/OIO/WH/MKESHISHIAN
USDOC FOR 4320/ITA/MAC/WH/DAS/WMBASTIAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD BESP AR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR WAYNE VISITS CORDOBA, ARGENTINA'S
SECOND CITY

REF: BUENOS AIRES 02580


1. (U) This cable is sensitive but unclassified, and not for
Internet distribution.

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Summary
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2. (U) Ambassador Wayne used a two-day trip to Cordoba,
widely considered Argentina's second city, to build ties with
provincial administrators, U.S. companies operating locally,
cultural and scientific leaders, youth and NGOs, and the
local media. The ambassador concentrated on four themes
throughout the trip: He stressed to his audiences the value
of establishing and maintaining a positive investment
climate; he encouraged and praised U.S. companies that
exhibit social responsibility; he reminded interlocutors of
the longstanding and mutually beneficial cultural and
scientific ties between the U.S. and Argentina; and he
demonstrated by example the importance of transparency in
government. Outreach highlights included a visit to a food
distribution project for poor children run by Caritas and
Wal-Mart and a meeting with Junior Achievement leaders. End
Summary.

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The Trip
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3. (U) The ambassador fit twelve distinct events into the
February 1-2 trip. In chronological order, he visited a
Motorola software development center; met with local young
people involved with Junior Achievement; had lunch with
AMCHAM Cordoba (companies represented included Apex, EDS,
Intel, Lockheed Martin, LG&E International, Motorola,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, RAR Autoparts, Sheraton, Prudential,
and Wal-Mart); visited a noted observatory co-founded in the
nineteenth century by a U.S. citizen scientist; participated
in a Wal-Mart-sponsored food and toy distribution at a local
center for underprivileged children managed by Caritas;
exchanged views with University of Cordoba officials; visited
the IICANA bi-national English language center to meet with
students and U.S. grantees; dined with the governor of
Cordoba; held a sit-down with local media editors and owners;
called on Cordoba's mayor; visited Argentina's primary
satellite control facility; and toured the Lockheed Martin
aircraft production and maintenance facility.

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Emphasizing the Importance of a Good Investment Climate
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4. (SBU) The Ambassador met with Cordoba governor Jose Manuel
De la Sota, whose mandate expires this year, and also with
the two frontrunners to succeed him, and used those meetings
to stress the importance of and advantages accruing from a
good investment climate. During dinner February 1 with De la
Sota and vice governor Juan Schiaretti, who is running to
replace De la Sota, and during a February 2 meeting with
Cordoba mayor Luis Alfredo Juez, another contender for
governor, Ambassador Wayne urged the provincial officials to
address concerns voiced during the ambassador's earlier
meetings with U.S. companies.


5. (SBU) Several of the companies with which the ambassador
had met had praised the De la Sota administration's use of
incentives to attract U.S. technology companies to Cordoba,
which has spurred Cordoba's status as a burgeoning high-tech
center. All the U.S. companies speaking to the ambassador
characterized the governor and his administration as
business-friendly. Two of the U.S. company subsidiaries have
already achieved world class results in their Cordoba
operations. The news was not all good, however, with some of
the same companies complaining that some of the promised
incentives had not yet been delivered. Those companies also
cited structural problems that limit the local economy's
ability to produce sufficient numbers of adequately trained
or skilled human resources.


6. (SBU) The ambassador raised those concerns with De la Sota
and Schiaretti, who agreed on the importance of improving
provincial education and of establishing a legible and

transparent operating framework for businesses. They also
explained in detail their hopes to build stronger economic
and educational ties with the U.S., and to seek law
enforcement training for provincial security forces. Mayor
Juez, De la Sota's political rival, had received less
positive marks from the U.S. business community. In keeping
with that assessment, Juez appeared less enthusiastic than
the governor had been when asked about taking steps to
improve Cordoba's investment climate. Instead, most of the
formal meeting Juez hosted for Ambassador Wayne was taken up
by the reading of a lengthy proclamation naming the
ambassador an honored guest of the city, and by the mayor's
joking attempts to cadge a statement of support for his
candidacy for governor from the ambassador. The mayor did,
however, stress the importance of building a strong sister
city relationship wiht Atlanta, including university level
ties.

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Lauding Examples of U.S. Corporate Responsibility
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7. (U) Ambassador Wayne emphasized the importance of
corporations acting as responsible members of the community
in all of his interactions with U.S. corporate
representatives in Cordoba. Local U.S. companies appear to
be taking those responsibilities seriously, and the
ambassador heard a number of inspiring stories about company
commitments to educational, nutritional, and environmental
campaigns. Some stories told of an astonishing degree of
community social responsibility. For example, Lockheed
Martin Aircraft Argentina President Alberto Buthet told the
ambassador that his company had continued to pay wages and
benefits to 1,100 workers for over a year during Argentina's
2001-2001 economic crisis, despite having no contract.


8. (U) With U.S. companies providing such a positive example,
the ambassador took pains to cite their good works to each of
his Argentine interlocutors, especially members of the press.
As part of that effort, the ambassador participated in an
event involving needy children at a Wal-Mart-subsidized soup
kitchen run by Caritas in a disadvantaged neighborhood.
Several hundred children jammed the building as Wal-Mart
volunteers and the ambassador served a snack and handed out
toys. The presence of the ambassador attracted media
coverage of the moving event, which served to showcase
throughout the region Wal-Mart's volunteer efforts and the
commitment by U.S. companies to their communities.

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Reinforcing Cultural, Educational, and Scientific Ties
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9. (U) The ambassador dedicated a significant portion of the
trip to publicizing and solidifying the cultural,
educational, and scientific ties between Argentine
institutions in Cordoba and U.S. counterparts. First on his
agenda was a roundtable with participants in the Junior
Achievement program, which in Cordoba dates from 1994. That
meeting began with the ambassador offering words of
encouragement to the assembled young people, then listening
as each described his or her particular project. The
projects were ambitious and inspiring, ranging from a
business startup that used profits to take underprivileged
children on vacation to organizing the upcoming International
Forum of Entrepreneurs (FIE) conference, scheduled for May
14-19 in Cordoba, and for which young people from eighteen
nations are expected. The Junior Achievers honored
Ambassador Wayne by asking him to be keynote speaker at the
conference.


10. (U) Administrators at the University of Cordoba,
Argentina's oldest university (founded in 1613),were eager
to discuss with the ambassador ways to improve U.S.-Argentina
educational exchanges. According to those officials, such
exchanges have been relatively insignificant compared to the
relationships Argentine universities enjoy with their
European counterparts. Dr. Hugo Juri, a professor at the
university and a former Argentine education minister, assured
the ambassador that that circumstance is not a result of
animosity or ideology. Rather, it is the result of
immigration patterns and other historic factors.


11. (U) Argentine universities are very interested in beefing
up exchange relationships, according to Juri. Ambassador
Wayne agreed that many possibilities exist to augment
exchanges, and offered to assist the University of Cordoba
with points of contact within U.S. institutions. The
educators were also interested when the ambassador mentioned
the proposed Global Science Partnerships for the 21st Century
program (GSP21) as a way to build ties. That proposed
program was first presented in Argentina to Minister of
Education Filmus in November 2006 by Science Adviser to the
Secretary George Atkinson (reftel).

SIPDIS


12. (U) The ambassador's visit to the IICANA bi-national
center also contributed to the goal of promoting existing
cultural and educational cooperation. At IICANA, Ambassador
Wayne spoke with grantees of U.S. exchange programs,
congratulated outstanding students of English, announced the
creation of a new scholarship for ten English language
students of limited means (the Sarmiento-Mann Scholarship),
and spoke with television and radio reporters.


13. (U) Two of the ambassador's events were designed to
highlight U.S.-Argentina scientific cooperation, which dates
to 1871. That was the year that Argentine president
Sarmiento, working with the Massachusetts astronomer Benjamin
Apthorpe Gould, opened the Argentine National Observatory.
The ambassador visited the observatory, now a museum, to
honor Gould. The ambassador also traveled to Argentine space
agency CONAE's Cordoba land station, approximately forty
kilometers south of the city, to underline the positive state
of the current U.S.-Argentina scientific partnership. CONAE
is an important NASA partner, and NASA is investing
approximately USD 250 million in a joint satellite project
(SAC-D/Aquarius, scheduled for launch in 2009).

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Press Freedom and Local Politics
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14. (U) In keeping with his practice of openness to the
press, Ambassador Wayne made contact with local media
following each of his scheduled events. The resultant
interviews and press releases attracted local media interest,
resulting in television, radio, and newspaper coverage of the
business, social, and educational elements of the visit. In
a frank, off-the-record session, media owners and editors
offered insights into local politics, and noted that
anti-Americanism in Cordoba was less significant a phenomenon
in Cordoba than in Buenos Aires, and also that it is now less
intense than in the past. The editors did lament the
government's use of official advertising to influence the
press, but said that there is still a wide variety of
opinions expressed in the Cordoba press.


15. (U) The ambassador arrived in Cordoba on the same day
that Governor De la Sota gave his final annual state of the
province address, which was a difficult story to compete
against. Still, following dinner with the governor that
evening and a meeting with the mayor (the governor's
political rival) the following morning, the city's leading
newspaper -- La Voz del Interior -- picked up the
ambassador's press release. That release reflected the
Embassy's neutrality vis-a-vis the ongoing political dispute
between the governor and the mayor, and focused on the U.S.
objectives of protecting and enhancing the development and
expansion potential of U.S. information technology companies
in Cordoba.
WAYNE