Experts Debate Argentina's Development Path, Highlight Potential and Challenges

Scientists, political scientists, diplomats, and business leaders convened in Buenos Aires to discuss Argentina's development prospects and outline proposals for the coming decades. The event, part of the "Rethinking Argentina" series held at the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires (Malba), emphasized three core themes: the critical need for investment, the urgency of achieving basic consensus, and the importance of considering society as a whole. Organized by Fundación SMS, the University of St. Gallen, the Swiss Embassy in Argentina, and other partners, the forum aimed to foster a discussion on the future of the nation. Pablo San Martín, head of Fundación SMS Argentina, opened the event by calling for a discussion on the kind of country Argentines wish to build, stating that "there are no perfect countries, but neither are there successful ones by chance." Swiss Ambassador to Argentina, Andrea Semadeni, highlighted the strong bilateral ties and asserted that "the path [to development] is innovation, which creates new business opportunities." Tomas Casas i Klett, a researcher from the University of St. Gallen, presented the Elite Quality Index (EQI), a tool that measures 151 countries using 149 public indicators since 2020. He described Argentina as a country with immense potential due to its human and natural resources, calling its failure to translate this potential into wealth "the Argentine mystery." The index placed Argentina at 104th this year, a drop from 70th in 2024 and 86th in 2025. The EQI specifically assesses the capacity of a country's elites to create or extract value through their business models. Casas i Klett suggested that industries like Vaca Muerta (shale oil and gas), lithium, human capital, and tourism could help break Argentina's "eternal return" of growth and crisis cycles over the past 70 years. He also pointed to investment and trade with Asia as crucial, given its "unstoppable boom," and stressed the importance of fiscal balance and reduced inflation. The researcher expressed optimism based on the value-creation potential of both elites and the broader population, noting that investment is a clear indicator of who generates and extracts value, as reinvested profits over two decades can build successful companies.