The original objective of the Angola venture was to develop markets in countries with limited food supplies and growing per-capita income. Of course, now it's gotten out of hand and turned into another nationalist event for Kichneristas to cheer.
There is some sense in developing ties to African nations with a degree of economic growth. The driver is Engel's law, which is taught in Argentine economics classes. It states that as household income increases, spending on food declines as a percentage of the overall household spend. It's an obvious principle that a food-exporting nation needs to keep in mind. This actually happened early in the 20th century with traditional markets in Europe, especially with the UK, and caused a nasty trade imbalance just as the Great Depression was getting underway.
The fear is that currently growing consumers of Argentine exports (e.g. China) will reach a level of prosperity where their purchases no longer increase at the current rate, causing Argentine food exports to flatline.
So to increase food exports in the 21st century, the logic goes that Argentina needs to develop markets in Africa and Southern Asia, where standards of living are gradually coming into the 20th century (yes, I mean 20th) and the populace is beginning to have enough money to feed itself decently. Lacking developed agriculture, these regions don't produce enough food for their people, and local thinking is that they will never be able to do so, creating permanent export opportunities for AR (and AU, NZ, CA, etc.).
That said, everyone on this forum really should watch Jorge Lanata's TV show "Periodismo Para Todos," - I hope everyone gets the joke! - already mentioned a couple times on the forum. It's on Canal Trece (which appears on Cablevision's channel 12 for reasons I can't fathom) on Sunday evenings at 11,
or you can watch them online at http://www.eltrecetv.com.ar/tags/periodismo-para-todos .
He's already covered the initial Angola visit, headed by Moreno (who refuses on camera to answer an Angolan reporter's questions about INDEC because "he has nothing to do with INDEC").
Then Lanata reported on the sale to Angola of 19 advanced harvesting machines that Cristina had announced in a media event where she climbed into the driver's seat (a la Dukakis and the tank). He showed that the only harvester yet built here is a prototype that was assembled for the trade show by some government crony businessmen using government loans and that doesn't even work....
Tomorrow's show focuses on Cristina's Angola mission. Not to be missed.
