RG-T3523 : Support for the Promotion and Commercial Facilitation of New Export Sectors and Sophistication of Traditional Exportable Supply

The general objective of the TC is to contribute to the diversification and sophistication of the exportable offer of Argentina and Paraguay, developing and disseminating strategies and instruments for the promotion of exports and attraction of investments in intensive sectors in the use of highly qualified human capital and cultural and creative content, for example, knowledge-based services (SBC) and goods and services (content) associated with the orange economy, as well as contributing to the sophistication and increased value added of exports from traditional sectors. Specifically, the CT (i) will identify and elaborate a mapping of the services based on the knowledge and contents of the orange economy with the potential to successfully insert into the global value chains; (ii) identify and develop innovative strategies for commercial promotion and facilitation of traditional sectors that have the potential to successfully insert into global value chains; (iii) identify, develop and disseminate policies and instruments for export promotion and investment attraction for the sectors identified; (iii) identify and propose policies and strategies to guarantee the enabling conditions of competitiveness of the new sectors. Argentine and Paraguayan exports continue to show a high degree of concentration in goods, with 81% and 92% of total merchandise exports in 2018, respectively. In turn, there is little sophistication in the external sales of services: in Argentina, 52% of service exports are concentrated in transport and tourism; In Paraguay, this figure is close to 61%. Exports per capita of SBC and orange economy services reached US $ 0.14 in Argentina and only US $ 0.002 in Paraguay. These values are substantially lower than the figures recorded by Uruguay, whose per capita exports reach US $ 0.29. It should be noted that Argentina has initiated some efforts for the promotion of SBCs and some sectors of the orange economy (audiovisual, advertising and cinema). In 2019, the National Congress (Argentina) gave a final sanction to the Law of the Knowledge Economy, whose objective is to adapt the tax framework for 11,000 companies, with the goal of doubling the human capital used by 2030 and reaching US $ 15 Millions in exports. In Paraguay, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce recently pointed out commercial efforts to negotiate the extra modality with the European Union, Canada and Korea, to achieve greater benefits in order to export services in line with the orange economy.