Table 3. Merchandise Balance of Argentina by Asian
Countries
Merchandise Balance (defi cit). Year 2017
China
-7989 81%
Thailand -733 7%
Japan -421 4%
Korea -337 3%
Singapore -79 1%
Sri Lanka -6 0%
Cambodia -1 0%
Myanmar -1 0%
0 0%
Macao
Laos 0 0%
Total -9897 100%
Merchandise Balance (surplus). Year 2017
Vietnam 1650 31%
India 24%
728 14%
Bangladesh 566 11%
Malaysia 550 10%
Hong Kong 252 5%
Pakistan 125 2%
Philipines 119 2%
Brunei 7 0%
Nepal 4 0%
Mongolia 2 0%
Maldives 0 0%
Bhutan
Total
0 0%
5261 100%
Source: Own elaboration based on Secretariat of Commerce Database of
Argentina.
Firstly, whether Argentina will once again be a net
provider of commodities and will buy from Asian countries
the majority of manufactured goods, including industrial
supplies and machinery necessary not only for its productive
activity but for social life in general 2 as well.
Secondly, whether it is possible an alternative path to
that economic linkage scheme between India and Argentina,
and whether trade surplus countries will turn into structural
defi cits as the case with China.
Finally, whether it would be possible to accelerate
economic and social development, despite trade pattern with
Asia were almost entirely inter-industrial.
Following Massot (2017), these questions and their
preliminary responses allow us to project other dimensions
of economic relations between countries such as India and
Argentina. Therefore, they open wider paths to understanding
how the economic link between both countries can evolve
13
1257 Indonesia
and strengthen, which, as indicated therein, and suggested
below, is much more complex and richer than the Positive
Theory of the International Economy suggests.
First, Argentina and India are “discovering” each other as
potential economic partners. This clearly diff erentiates this
from the traditional economic relations that each country has
had, such as, in the case of Argentina, its links with Europe,
the United States, and Latin American countries, or the
more recent and growing relations with China and ASEAN
countries.
This mutual discovery, today still very limited in the
light of the opportunities detected, requires an increase of
mutual knowledge for its concrete growth, not only in the
strictly material aspect but culturally and socially as well,
embracing obvious diff erences in productive, commercial
and investment culture.
The strengthening of the exchange of goods, services and
direct foreign investment as an economic and commercial
stimulus require recognizing in the other a series of values,
among which is trust, which, when shared, facilitates the
exchange and sharing of the fruits of eff orts and projects.
This does not arise from a legal instrument, such as a
written contract, but from a construction, sometimes slow
and sometimes fast -in an emergency or urgency- that goes
beyond the merely contractual. A regular contract in a long-
term relationship between very diverse cultures tends to be
the coronation of a dense, multidimensional human and social
bond and, on many occasions, unexpected.
In the Argentine case, it can be noted that the link that
has been maintained for centuries with European countries is
associated to a large extent with the relational density among
the inhabitants of the countries. Colonized by Spaniards,
it then received millions of immigrants for decades from
many European countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany,
Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Ireland, or other regions, such
as Lebanon, Syria, Japan, a small contingent from India, etc.
This allowed for the building of shared values and customs
over more than two centuries, as well as a dense economic,
commercial, cultural, educational and research underlying
framework in Argentina.
Something similar has been happening in recent decades
with the attraction of that country as a place of study, work
and permanent residence for thousands of citizens of South
American countries, mainly young people, to which is added
the novel presence of population of Chinese origin and from
the African continent, which signifi cantly expands the social
and cultural web of the country.
The growth of diversity has allowed for new horizons in
human relationships, and logically in the economy as one of its
dimensions, which had not been suffi ciently explored before,
had not been recognized, or simply did not exist. It can be
conjectured that, while non-existence was the consequence
of the lack of a real and deep human bond that reached the
economic and commercial link, the non-recognition of such