Speech given by OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann to welcome the President and the Government of Argentina to the OECD during Argentina Week.
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Distinguished guests, colleagues, friends of Argentina all,
Thank you to the President and the Government of Argentina for bringing Argentina Week to the OECD.
And thank you for the invitation to say a few words about the opportunities for Argentina in a changing global landscape, and on how Argentina’s OECD accession journey fits in.
Let me do this by making three points.
Where the world is going.
What Argentina has already done.
And what we suggest based on the evidence should come next.
Firstly, the world is moving towards what Argentina has.
Argentina is an extraordinary country.
Soils that make it a leading exporter of soybeans, corn and wheat.
Around a fifth of the world’s known lithium resources.
Some of the best wind and solar conditions anywhere.
And a knowledge economy, in software, engineering and biotechnology, that has become a major export in its own right.
Now look at what the world wants.
Businesses are re-thinking their supply chains.
Governments are looking for secure food and secure energy.
The energy transition and the investment boom in artificial intelligence are driving demand for critical minerals.
And digitalisation is increasing the value of talent and technological capability wherever it is found.
Every one of these shifts raises the value of exactly the assets Argentina holds in abundance.
But resources and talent alone do not deliver prosperity.
Policy does.
Macroeconomic stability.
Predictable rules.
Respect for contracts and the rule of law.
Competitive markets.
And integration with the world.
Those are the foundations the OECD accession process is built to strengthen.
Twenty-five of our committees are now reviewing Argentina’s policies against the standards our Members have agreed.
The purpose is practical: to help Argentina advance its own reform priorities, drawing on the evidence of what has worked, and what has not, across our membership.
Secondly, what Argentina has already done.
Consider the starting point.
Between 2011 and 2025, Argentina grew by about 0.8% a year, less than half the OECD average of 2.2%. Between 2012 and 2023, labour productivity fell by 1.3% a year. In 2024, inflation reached 220%.
But that is not the end of the story. Argentina has been able to turn things around – comprehensively and at speed.
After two years of recession, the economy returned to growth in 2025, faster than the OECD average. We project growth of 2.6% this year and 3.0% next year. Inflation has come down sharply, and so have inflation expectations. Exports in mining, agriculture and energy are driving the recovery.
That turnaround did not happen by accident.
A major fiscal consolidation has returned the primary budget to surplus.
Long-standing foreign-exchange restrictions have been substantially eased.
Barriers to competition have come down.
And Argentina is opening up to trade and investment.
Here is one number that captures it.
In 2018, Argentina had one of the most restrictive regulatory frameworks of the 48 economies in our product market regulation index.
By 2025, it had recorded one of the sharpest improvements in terms of the openness of its regulatory frameworks of any economy we measure.
The challenge now is to keep that momentum, to turn those recent gains into durable improvements in growth and living standards. Importantly, needs to consolidate itself onto a stable positive forward trajectory moving beyond the dramatic up and down cycles of the past.
That is where our evidence points to four priorities.
Which takes me to my third point – what the evidence tells us should come next.
First, keep lifting the regulations that hold back competition.
We estimate that continuing its efforts to align Argentina’s regulatory frameworks with the best-performing OECD countries would lift potential output by 6.8% and employment by 2.2% between now and 2050.
That includes making it easier and faster to start a business, and to offer professional services across provincial borders.
Second, make the most of Argentina’s talent.
Creativity, entrepreneurship and adaptability are real assets in the age of artificial intelligence. But they need strong foundations. Today, only one in four Argentine students reaches basic proficiency in mathematics, compared with nearly two in three across the OECD. Closing that gap, building pathways into formal employment and expanding lifelong learning will decide how much of the opportunity Argentina captures.
Third, mobilise more capital.
Argentina’s equity market capitalisation is well below the OECD average, and public equity issuance has been minimal since 2018.
Stronger financial market institutions and better corporate governance would deepen the market and help unlock more new investment.
Fourth, connect to global markets.
Lower trade barriers, modern customs procedures, efficient border processes and alignment with international standards.
Stronger protection of intellectual property, so that firms have the confidence to innovate and invest.
And, in mining, energy and agriculture, the transparency, environmental stewardship and benefits for local communities that investors and trading partners now expect as a matter of course.
In conclusion
Argentina’s recent progress is absolutely remarkable.
The opportunity ahead is larger still, offering the prospect of significant increases in incomes and living standards for the people of Argentina.
Investors back reforms that last and put a premium on stability and predictability.
Anchoring reform in shared standards, reviewed independently, is how a country shows that its reforms will outlast any single political cycle.
That is in many ways the most important challenge for Argentina – to demonstrate that they can maintain a consistent reform momentum through political cycles.
And that is precisely what the accession process offers.
The OECD is committed to continue to walk that road with Argentina, through accession and beyond.
Thank you.
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