ISSA, 15.05.2012 | News

Vice-President of Argentina Amado Boudou. Photo: ILO/Crozet

Challenging the prevailing economic model of fiscal austerity as a response to crisis, the Vice-President analysed how Argentina has given high priority to strengthening its social protection and education sectors in recent years, since facing a severe financial crisis a decade ago. By prioritizing social security, the authorities have also invested in job creation and reindustrialization, Mr Boudou noted.

“Improving wealth distribution, and closing the income gap, is not only a moral imperative but also an excellent way to improve aggregate demand,” Mr Boudou stated.

The Vice-President made his remarks during an event organized by the ISSA in Geneva on 15 May. The Vice-President also held talks with the Secretary General of the ISSA, Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, and met with the Director of the International Labour Organization’s Social Security Department, Michael Cichon. The Vice-President was accompanied by the Permanent Representative of Argentina to the UN, Mr Alberto Pedro D'Alotto, and other members of his delegation.

The Vice-President recognized that more needed to be done to ensure social protection for the informal economy in his country. A priority remains bringing workers into the formal economy, and diversifying sources of financing for social security schemes, he said.

In an interview following the event, the Vice-President upheld the importance of international organizations like the ISSA as providing platforms for discussion of diverse economic and social policies.

“Organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have a single point of view, which has had a strong negative impact on both developing and developed economies,” Mr Boudou stated.

“Organizations such as the ISSA and the ILO are more pluralistic, there is more discussion, and this makes it possible that various points of view are debated and that new ideas – like those we are presenting here today – can be discussed,” he concluded.

A recognized expert on social security policies, Mr Boudou previously served as Director of Argentina’s National Social Security Administration, the ANSES. He became Economy Minister in 2009, and in 2011 was named as Vice-President by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

EVENT PHOTOS

See more photos from this event on the ISSA's Flickr photostream >>