Three main challenges for the development of Argentina's international trade will affect the country's agenda in the coming year. These challenges will not only stem from the new global realities in the international system, but also from the domestic realities of the country itself, of the whole region and particularly of South America.

Such challenges are related to the conditions for governance of the country that could result from this year's elections; to the quality of the necessary diagnosis of the international reality in which the country is inserted both at global level and within the South American region; and to the capacity and vocation that the country demonstrates to establish a long-term vision of its insertion in the world.

These are challenges that require frequent and intense cooperation between the various sectors that have a bearing on the country's international trade relations.

Everything indicates that next year will be a challenging one for the development of Argentina's international trade. Probably, it will also be the case for Mercosur countries and the countries of the South American region as well. These challenges will stem from the new global realities in the international system and from the domestic situation of each country. In any case, in order to understand their full scope, they will demand a correct and timely diagnosis from the perspective of each country.

In Argentina, there are at least three main challenges that could have an impact on the country's international trade in the coming year. These challenges are related to the necessary definition of a consensual and sustainable strategy for the country's international insertion in the world and in its own region.

One of the challenges is related to the country's own governance conditions that could become evident after the results of the national elections, to be held this year, and especially those that could have the greatest impact on the definition of the strategies and policies that affect the functioning of the country's economy and international relations.

In this regard, it should be noted that, for numerous reasons, Argentina has gone through a relatively long period of marked uncertainty in the political conditions affecting its governance, which goes beyond the duration of the corresponding governmental periods. This has had a marked impact on the degree of success and effectiveness of the measures aimed at ensuring the country's governance, both in the political and economic spheres.

A second challenge has to do with the quality of the necessary diagnosis that a country needs to have on the conditions that may affect the competitiveness of the goods and services with which it aspires to compete in the rest of the world. It is a diagnosis that may require frequent updating in order to preserve its adaptation to the changes, especially technological ones that tend to take place continuously, including those that affect the conditions for accessing and competing in each country.

A third challenge is related to the country's capacity and vocation to establish a long-term vision of its insertion in the world, and even in each of its separate regions. This would imply a strategic vision that is broadly shared by ample sectors of society, on the country's insertion at global scale, with special emphasis on the South American region and on each of the regions of greatest relevance in the international competition for markets and resources.

The three challenges call for frequent and intense cooperation between the different sectors that have a bearing on the country's international trade relations and, in particular, the government sector (including, in a federal country, its local governments), the economic and social sector (including institutions that reflect the views and interests of businesses and workers), and the action-oriented sector of thought (including academic institutions and those that influence the social view of international competition in the country's perspective, including the media).

In the coming months, our monthly newsletter will focus on the country's approach to these three challenges and their effect on the country's international insertion strategy, including those that may become evident in the future.
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Recommended reading:

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• Kindleberger, Charles, "On the Rise and Decline of Nations", International Studies Quarterly, vol. 27 , Number 1, March 1983, pages 5-10.
  
• Mahbubani, Kishore, "The Asian 21st Century", CCG Center For China & Globalization, Springer, Singapore 2022.
  
• Massare, Bruno, "Automatización y dependencia. El rol de América Latina en la era de Chat GPT", Le Monde Diplomatique, May 2023, pages 24-25.
  
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• Mody, Ashoka, "India is Broken. A People Betrayed, Independence to Today", Stanford University Press, Stanford 2023.
  
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• Stuenkel, Oliver, "Post-Western World. How Emerging Powers are Remaking Global Order", Polity Press, Cambridge-Malden, 2016.
  
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