To further improve the trade balance and cooperation between the Philippines and Argentina, 
Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for Operations Ariel T. Cayanan met with the Argentine Ministry of Labor and Production headed by Undersecretary Pedro Manuel Vigneau, Director Santiago Nocelli Pac, and Mr. Flavio Chomnalez at the Office of the Secretary on July 25, 2019.

During the meeting, Cayanan conveyed the Philippine’s interest to export its world-class tuna and agro-based products to Argentina such as abaca and other processed food products like coco sugar, virgin coconut oil, coco chips, nata de coco, frozen and processed tropical fruits, among others. He also underscored the need to jumpstart cooperation on grain storage and drying technology. On the other hand, Undersecretary Vigneau  proposed to bring some of their produce to the Philippines including livestock and dairy. He said, ” if we want to sell, we will also have to buy”.

The Philippine Department of Agriculture and the Argentine Ministry of Production and Labor are now in the process of finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a general framework of cooperation in the agricultural, livestock and agro-industrial sectors. ### (Ela Arciaga, DA-AFID)