pressure would lead back to the negotiating table. i just spent an embarrassing large proportion of my adult life working on dissertation on this precise question of how to get enemies to talk to each other during complex. the bottom line is the united states seems to think that escalating will get the other side to the table but it undermines efforts. the other side is worried about giving in under the got a course and them look weak and they're worried about creating for the coercion in the future. my question is given that there's a consensus i'm curious to know on the discussion, were there any voices that talked about perhaps how the increased pressure could reduce the probability that north korea would be willing to talk to the united states? or was there a general consensus that the strategy would work? >> an easy last question. >> we thought that this would work in a very difficult

problem. it's enormously complex. members of the task force who have negotiated in the clinton administration, negotiated the issue in the bush administration and negotiated in the obama administration. it just speaks to the difficulty. what is changing is the technological development if you will of the system which now very directly is coming into the horizon of threatening u.s. citizens. literally the continental united states. we just cannot see ourselves getting to accepting that in any way, shape or form. and maybe that changes the view of how this should be negotiated. >> a with that it looks like -- and we want to thank everybody and i want to thank --

[applause]. with like to thank you for moderating, thank you all. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible]

[inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] . .

us today, the minister of foreign affairs appointed by president in december of 2015.

she brings extraordinary experience to the ministry, management, economics, technology and international relations. you all have a copy of her impressive resume and we have only one precious hour so i am going to limit my introduction most done diplomatically to just a few points that i would like to make about her magnificent achievements. she has been assistant engineer for ibm, she was executive officer of telecom argentina and the third-largest argentine company. chief operating office of the united nations food program, undersecretary general for the newly-created u.n. department dealing with providing field and financial support for our

peacekeeping mission and last but not least chief of staff to u.n. secretary ban ki-moon. the minister's remarks and our conversation following are on the record and with no more words i am going to invite minister malcorra to the podium. [applause] >> thank you so much ambassador hill. it's a real pleasure to be here to be hosted in such an important organization related to all matters of common interest in international affairs and dicey good friend sitting around the table. it is good to be among friends. i will take a little bit of time to tell you where we are in

argentina and then as the ambassador said we will be opened in -- open to question so we can speak about anything that you want to talk about. i think it's my duty to start to describe where home is. as you know the president took office last december. spend nine long months of hard work trying to have a different approach to argentina and argentina in the world. it is our view and it is the view of the president that in this day and age the only way for us to really get to the point where we need to be from a development and from an institution perspective, from

the perspective of being a mature country and to do that within a very integrated view into the world. the president came with it very clear object if for our government. first of all elimination of poverty. it is hard to say and heartbreaking in a play that has a poverty level of 30% and more than 30%. such a rich country and subject country with so many resources is hard to understand how we are where we are. the first objective is to eliminate poverty. this is much in line with the view that the world has on sustainable development, climate

change and doing it in a manner that will be sustainable long-term. so it's first objective which seems so clear toward the internal perspective of argentina are the marching orders that i have by the minister of argentina. clearly our job is to bring argentina so we can generate business opportunities investment opportunities, trade opportunities in a way that allows us to create jobs that are sustainable in the long term , not jobs that depend on a particular subsidy, not jobs that feel like falling from the sky but jobs that are real, better quality jobs in the long term. that's the first objective read the second object if that we

have set for ourselves is the fight against narco-trafficking. this is something that many people do not fully know but argentina has evolved into a country of passage of dark products of significance. being a transient company of course went to pastor a place something is always left behind and that something that has been left behind for some time now has created a very sad situation in our seats to be. not only of course the use of two drugs has increased but out of that we have now a situation of drug trafficking which hasn't

not the sort of the big cartels we see in the world and has created tension and has created problems on security. again here in the foreign ministry we are working in the different ministries to first get as many lessons learned in information and capabilities coming from countries and others and work together with the neighbors because clearly it's a question that affects the region in order to attack the horrible situation that we are facing. the that's the second object. a third object if the president has set for us is what in the u.s. government you would say

rule of law but in our terms we call it coming together of the argentinian and the credit institutions. the notion of coming together, the notion of eating able to work with each other no matter what your view is, where it comes from and what your thinking is and being able to work out your differences because you have institutions that are solid. that is critical for a country that has had quite a few rounds of changes of profound impact without a lasting view of institutions particularly institutions that strong democratic roots. this is what we are doing. it's very simple and it's very complex. the president has promised to

deliver many things and i will say the first six months of this administration he has proven that what he promised us what he did and we have reopened particularly in economic terms to the world we have eliminated all the hurdles to doing business with argentina. one of the ones that clearly has had a huge impact are the holdouts that were there for many years and cost the country a lot in terms of opportunities. we are now working on the hardest part which is to translate all these framework

decisions into things that impact the lives of each argentinian everyday. you know going from macroto microis always difficult. that's exactly where we are. we have launched a very ambitious infrastructure plan because we have a sign that they have protective argentina that requires -- and one of the issues we have to be competitive is to update our infrastructure be that in terms of railroads, terms of ports, in terms of energy and argentina having been in net exporter of energy for a long time is now a net importer so we have to reshuffle and

invest in the basic infrastructure needs not only to make argentina competitive but also to have that integration within the south of the continent and to make sure we can do that in a manner that is absolutely connect did. so we are working on that. we are working on the question of bringing the interest of private sector investments which we just had earlier this week a form on business investment with 1600 very senior people from companies coming to see what is it that we can offer both on initiatives that the government is leading on infrastructure but

also to see sector by sector where are the opportunities and of course the network business the key factor for us. that's one of the site is where we are competitive. we produce food for 400 million people and we have a plan to become a producer of 800 million people in a years time and that's part of the need to build and rebuild to be able to carry that through and also we are very much dedicated to go from being the -- of the world to being a supermarket or the worlds of two make sure that we add value in argentina and we are part of the solution to one of the biggest risks the world faces which is food security risks. it's true in many parts of the world and i think argentina can

represent an opportunity in this regard. we are working sector by sector trying to not only the most basic agribusiness which i shall describe also technology which is the natural tendency to be creative that the argentinians have. they have proven so good in commerce and the i.t. arena, in the technology arena at large and in the media so we are trying to diss where we can have a competitive advantage and look for partners that come from all over the world to join efforts with us and invest and create again job opportunity.

this is what we are doing. i'm not going to bore you much more with what it is we are trying to do vis-à-vis argentina and its own challenges. a we are very cognizant that we are immersed in a region that has its own challenges and it's very important for us to remain well-connected with their neighbors. dare we are trying to make sure that we take it to the next level of a closeness. we have started conversations with the european union. exchange of offers are in progress. the third were mutually disappointing i have to say but as is always the case we have to work and develop those offers

into something that's mutually satisfactory. we are also working with latin america because again it's very natural that you work to integrate yourself in the world. we are also investing very heavily in our relationship with north america with the u.s., canada and mexico. we are also working hard renewing our commitment that the european union. we have a relationship with china that were started by the prior government and we have now rerouted a new administration. we are looking to business and the rest of the world in asia and the middle east and africa. africa has an opportunity

because africa is so much in need of some of the things that we produce but also as a cooperation opportunity to develop areas where we have a competitive advantage. we have a very broad agenda. i would say we have almost no stone left unturned. that means we have many fronts that we are trying to do our very best to work in a manner from big concepts and big ideas for things to that make a difference for our people. without elaborating much more because i don't want to take our time, i will be ready to engage with you all in a conversation. thank you all very much. [applause]

>> well that was spectacular and i can't tell you how pleased we are to have you with us. thank you. i will ask the minister a couple of questions and then i will be turning it over to you so think about what you can ask in very few words in the short time that we have. you mentioned -- many observers believe that it's current set up as an obstacle for vibrant argentine trade and i, let me just ask you what reformed if any do you see that it needs to reinvigorate the integration and

some have suggested that if the numbers have a free trade agreement instead of a customs union they would be much more flexible and engender mucks more growth. what are your views on this? >> it is clear that it's short and the initial particularly from brazil. it's also true in recent history it has hidden between argentina and argentina has hidden behind brazil. so i think we are facing a huge opportunity now because both countries agree that we need to take it deep look and think

about what is next. we don't have a particular formula. but we think is first we have to be truthful to what we have agreed and we need to eliminate all -- among ourselves and eventually take a deeper look whether there is a better model that we could go ahead and take. i hate and i will be very clear that when we make excuses that we have to invent something new because what is supposed to be working is not working. while we invent something new we are creating new excuses not to do things. in the meantime let's talk about anything we feel should be of

help and we are ready because the president is very open open-minded precedent that he's ready to take on any issue. >> we go wish you well in that endeavor. let me ask you another question. argentina has played a role in preventing venezuela from assuming the presidency and the deadline has been set for december 1 for argentina to comply with the membership requirements. tell me if the political situation continues today as it has with respect to venezuela what do you foresee? is argentina prepare to vote for venezuela being dropped from merck and sell? >> first of all we need to be very careful. the political -- to separate the

political issue. mercantile is a common market. we have other environments and other organizations where we deal with the political issues. we have done -- been very strict in compliance and we have found him when i say we not only argentina but the forefathers we have found their certain questions that are basic prerequisite of compliance that mercantile has not adhered to. we all want to give venezuela extra time. venezuela has been slow in the approval of treaties that goes to the legislation should be endorsed. so we are hoping that venezuela will renew their commitment to

be part of it. should that not occur i think we need to regroup and find out what are the next steps. but there's no intention that venezuela will be -- because we hope that venezuela will go through. tonight in your foreign policy responsibilities let me ask another question about venezuela currently hosting the 17th summit of the nonaligned movement. there will be 160 delegations that attend including north korea, iran syria and many others. the last summit was held in 2012 what do you think is going to come out of this meeting? >> i have not been involved in the organization of the meeting. it's clearly a group as the name

itself indicates that is trying to be mutual and not aligned to what was at the time that the powers in the bipolar world. the reality that there is no bipolar world any longer there is no full alignment. but i think it's a platform that rings together most of the countries in the south. and that allows conversations that they define in their priority. i don't know and i'm of the view that if people want to come together and have a conversation and have exchanged there's no reason why that shouldn't happen my sense having been in a

multilateral organization for some time is that it's better for people speaking and talking than to be fighting. into play i think it's worth looking at what happens and wishing that out of that there will be a sense of belonging in this world. we have a lot of common agendas that we are working on. >> and argentina will participate? >> argentina is not a member. we used to be but not any longer. >> let me ask another foreign-policy issue. for more than a century argentina and great britain have had a quarrel and they even fought a war in 1982 over the issue and this past wednesday, just a few days ago the two governments issued a communiqué ending restrictions on a number of industries enabling them to

function on the islands and agreeing to allow flights in and out of the island and planning, promising to discuss in the future shipping, fishing and oil and gas drilling. how do you see these negotiations preceding and in what timeframe? give us something about can we see the end of this 100 year war >> well it's not a 100 year war. it's a difference of opinion which had a war in the middle unfortunately. first of all we have said that we are ready relate and communicate with the rest of the world. as long as the basic principles that we believe in our mats. clearly the uk meets this end we

have also said in a relating to the world we believe in the principles. you should be aware that i'm an engineer so i believe in the 80/20 principle where normally have 80% of things with whomever you are talking, country another person or another institution you can agree on it and you work on that. 20% were either you don't agree or you disagree or you work. in the case of the uk we have a deep deep -- in the uk. something argentina has enshrined in the constitution. this is a country that is

deeply-rooted in our society. having said that we are working on the way present the form that i described and members of the private sector and individual government. we have a few that this may take long to be totally resolved. there are things that can be done in the meantime without giving up our sovereign bright. it is in the communiqué that we signed we talked about sovereignty there and in the meantime we have agreed to work together on quite a few fronts. i'm trying to see how we can find ways to work in the area

that is so important to argentina as part of it. that's what we are going to do. none of that has the scripted timeline but it's a good first step toward sitting at the table and trying to find solutions. >> you mentioned in your remarks president marcri's priorities and in every he came to the council on foreign relations and laid out his foreign-policy priorities and one of them was to develop a more cooperative relationship with the united states you what two or three policy areas would your government like to pursue with washington and also what would you like to see washington do to facilitate a closer relationship between our two governments?

>> first of all back in february many things have happened. president obama came to argentina in what we considered was a very successful visit and a very successful encounter between the two leaders. .. but some things have come they

are looking for opportunities to see that the decisions taken by the administration reflect for example on the credit rating which is something very important. it is not something that suddenly they have been there administration but we believe the decision may be in the financial institution that you have the responsibility. of course were looking for in a more cooperation with the private sector and again the administration is important. but we are working more specifically in certain areas. were incorporating the second objective which i described. it is strong, it's a strong cooperation between the security institutions, we found that our security system was quite

dismantled so we are seeking support on the building come on equipment, so we are working on things in that regard and were also working very closely and coordinating with peacekeeping, private change in things that are of importance to us but also to the us. we also have have a few things where we may not agree as anyone else but we can all live with that. >> we are glad you are in the position you are. the major to our members and remind you that this is on the record, ask you to stand, give your name and your affiliation and make your comment or question relatively short so that your colleagues can also participate. >> yes, at the far table. >> thank you. i would like to know how

argentina sees the role of the us? especially with all these democratic challenge in the region, especially minnesota? iq. >> well first of all, we value the role. we feel is an institution it is one of the oldest institutions in the world. it has some incredible established institutions within and the human rights aspects of it are significant. we believe that the human rights council on all the elements of it are very important, because we really value it. somebody asked us when we're just coming into the administration, there was this discussion about. [inaudible]

we felt the institutions are different and have different purposes and both of those should be retained. so we are very engaged. we think that it's an opportunity for the continent to come together. although it is true within the continent we have a lot of relations. but the more to work together and try to find, good. so we are infested. >> at the front table. [inaudible] >> i will get it right eventually. >> informally with the department of state. i understand that argentina is a candidate for membership in the oecd. could you tell us where that stands?

>> well, we have region to oecd indicating are interest in as a member. but we also said in our letter that we are interested as long as they are interested as a member. and this is now being picky. there is a reason for these and the discussions whether the expansion should continue or maybe the number of members is enough. and being part of oecd has, and many added values. i always like to say the complying with many of the things they establish puts us in a straitjacket that is helpful for the future. so because of a long-term -- it

is also true that it is a very heavy investment. so we we are ready to go for as long as we have partners willing to come along with us. we are trying to get to investigate work most a the leaders of the oecd say that we are ready to tackle and now we'll see what the other side is ready. but we feel that it is worth making that investment. with one caveat. we also we also need to be very careful that politically the speed of implementation is something that one needs to be very mindful of. there's so many things on our plate that we need to stagger what is it that we do and how fast we do it. this is something we have also shared with members of oecd. >> another question.

>> thank you, it is very interesting to listen to your presentation about the objective and priorities of the government and the broad agenda that is associated with it. my question really is, anything within that agenda that offers some idea about the restructuring of the argentina's economy which is pretty much a rat natural resource base into a modern economy that is competitive, and this context, context, do you have a model in mind that you want to emulate, is that the new region like countries like brazil versus chile, or looking farther to countries like korea and vietnam? >> first of all, it is true that our country is strong, but it's also true that are country is

one of the weakest countries in the world. i learned a long time ago that one needs to understand and then move from there because once you try to deal and weaknesses the work that you want to get is much more challenging. so what is it that we feel we must do? i said it in my introduction, we believe that we have to deal on our advantages. and move up in the value change if we do that. so clearly agribusiness is hard. the fact that the administration eliminated all of the different hurdles that the agricultural sector had is now yielding at least this year 20% more of

output in soybean, and et cetera. so the speed in which that sector reacts to the right incentives is critical to us. we have now to make sure as they said that we move from be in the supermarket so that is an area of opportunity. there is another area of opportunity that we have really throughout our history and that is in earls. when you look at what we know with the gdp of chilean you look at what is our gdp it is almost nella in our gdp. and for some reason god put all of the minerals to the west, not to the east. that's the only way to say.

so that my name is another area where we can do a lot. but here again, not only the expectation and building up in the value chain. we have the largest resource in argentina. we have it set up so some of the minerals that are more critical in the advanced technology until we not only to exploit the minerals but -- so that's another area where we are very much in the position of the outside being relatively simple and it is part of what we're trying to do. it is clear that argentina has an opportunity in the sector side of business because there is first a well-educated

population, specifically a young population, a population that is very creative as they said earlier, when you look at a startup in latin america, four of the five largest of latin america come from argentina, talking about the technology sector. even though there were no new sentence in argentina to help there is another area and is provided to the world in certain areas it is also important. so so do we have a single country that will be our mirror? we don't. we are trying to look at best practices by sector. we are constructing role plan for our action and productivity to increase and we are trying to compare sector by sector and learn from the best ones. so it could be in our government

and indication that it had, it is clearly the case of chilean minerals, but but i think we have many things to learn. >> on the back table, the gentleman sitting with the computer. >> thank you very much. i'm with ap. i would like to try to topics. if you could please give us an update on the plan for argentina to receive 3000 syrian refugees that we have not heard only recently, and i would like to also follow up of venezuela. is argentina ready to say that the mediation done by the three former presidents have been achieve a significant outcome and there is a need to try a different strategy? and also. >> that's too.

>> yes but secretary-general involved a charter in may when he called a special meeting, so then my question is why should be the next step in this assessment of venezuela? what should be the next step of the nation there. so anything you could share i appreciate. >> if i ask you can you remind me of the first one? >> the refugees. they're going to to be making more specific announcements next week in the high level in new york but what i can say to you is that we have put together a plan to expand what argentina has been doing in the past because one needs to say it is not new that argentina is

receiving refugees, but what we want to do is to it at a different pace and with a different force. so we are spending with how to receive refugees in a manner that allows them to have the coverage when they arrived on their own. this is based on two principles. the first principle is that argentina is a country of migrants and refugees. many of us have parents or great-grandparents who came to argentina either be a migrants or economic get a refugees or were refugees. so what feel is the question of syria it requires shouldering by everybody by the world and it's a drop in the ocean but we are trying to do it and do it in a responsible manner, meaning we are trying to have the first and have it covered by the fact that there are two very large populations in argentina of

syrian and lebanese origin that can help to integrate these people. that we have five or six provinces where the government, they are totally ready to work on refugees and trying to put together all of these in a manner that is well sustained and allows us to feel that people can be productive as soon as they arrive. you know, having a level of 30% of poverty level of 30% makes us very responsible of what we do when we open ourselves. because we do not have the possibility of affording us a government to bring his proper anything because we cannot do that with our own people. we are trying to work with the private sector and with some of these to make sure that we get

that next that allows them -- so details will be announced by the president next week so if you allow me to leave there. regarding venezuela, first of all we believe that dialogue and i said in a different context a few minutes ago is the way to sort out issues. it is clear that the venezuelans have voted twice in a very different way sending very different messages. the executive is there in the democratic process through the source of elections and when given the powers by the people is also clear that last december they decided to give a majority to the opposition.

so what our really is is the venezuelans have told the leadership, come together and sort this out. and in that regard we are looking at the need for dialogue is there, when you said that nothing has happened with the dialogue of the three presidents, i would not dare say be so absolute, probably i could say that we have the most is when would like, in our view some are very important, you may have seen they have sent a letter offering the offices of the vatican to intervene. we have a push for that for a long time. and we believe that if the vatican draws forces here with the moral authority a pope

francis, in the world and particularly in this region there is an opportunity to sort things out into how the parties find a solution in a way forward. so we feel better with that and were trying to do our very best in hoping that is the way to go. particularly because other options in our view are really not good options. then it's true though there able to present his view on the democratic in the case of oes. and this was under the presidency of the council, you may recall that and now it is being discussed among member states. what they said in interviews is an analysis of all options of things that can be done and

because here and there the democratic umbrella. that is being discussed. in fact the would be conversations in the next weeks among the states. but all of these is not something that happens overnight when you have an engagement it takes time. so i think that despite this is being under consideration it's very important because of part of the role of oes. >> thank you. i'm kelly. i thought it was very interesting that early in the ten year president mockery went to chile for the pacific alliant summit. i saw in a few it, and on the relationship. thank you. >> well they did a few things

that were interesting to our region. before the president he was still president-elect we flew to two different places on the same day. this had a lot for us because it is clear that rozelle is our largest partner, it is clear that we cannot think about ourselves without thinking about brazil. but it's also clear that we believe, deeply believe in a perspective of our self and of the region. this notion of having a view of atlantic versus specific is just plain wrong. if are not here and not tape i would say plain stupid but i cannot say that. so it's just wrong. so our view is, and this is

discussed between presidents at the time, it it is not something you people can say now well you are starting something, no, this is discussed then and we agree that there is a combination of a lion specific that can commit to circle. after that we were invited to become observers and we decided to accept that privilege. so we so we are now observers of the pacific alliance. we think that in the end south america, latin america has to really strengthen its integration. i'd like to say that we measured through results, and when when you look for example the level of integration within the past ten years and the investment within the region or trade

within the region you have to deal with a lot so we need to talk business and get serious about integration and put that in terms that go beyond labels. really get to the heart of it. >> thank you carla. michael michael shifter of the inter-american dialogue, thank you. you mentioned your opening remarks that the argentina is reorienting its relationship with china. in light of the current priorities. can you describe for a bit what that means, reorienting in what way? >> it clearly in the prior administration signed an agreement with china, and we have decided that that is something that we want to maintain. but we want to maintain in terms

that are aligned with what the government feels are the priorities. so we have had a very fruitful conversation, series of conversations. in fact the president already met twice and we have somehow there was an agreement around a contract more than an agreement signed around the power plant in the south and we look into it ends we are signing that and our chinese counterpart has agreed to that. the chinese have proposed a couple of options on power plants, nuclear power plants which are now considering in light of our overall plan on energy. and we are discussing with them. there were discussions around a

plan base, not a plant that was approved and both developed in getting the south regarding satellite monitoring which had all kinds of questions regarding the use of application of the base. we start with our chinese partners and said we understand that these have always, they have civilian checked it. but we would like to make an we have now assigned, an agreement an addendum to make it clear and specific. so what we have done is set with the chinese who are serious players in the region. our series players in the world and have decided to make sure that our relationship is based on mutual trust and also mutual interest. >> yes, the back table.

>> thank you. i'm tresa from carter for capital. it is such a pleasure to have you. i would would have to tell you that every single person i know wishes the best of success to that administration. on another topic, if we are so lucky and you're so lucky to be the secretary general of the un, what would be your top three, or five or five priorities for the united nation? >> well first of all this is in the hands of people who decide based on a greater scheme. so that's in their hands. you know, my view on the united nations is that probably it has been over review, over

transform, over a change in layers. so you have an organization that is often very functional because different people have taken partial looks on what should be done and in the end the cost of coordination to get things done is such that it's impossible to be effective and efficient. i haven't viewed that the un should be what i call issue centric. and we need an inspirational leader that values the troops internal but also rallies member states. and discusses issues and around issues you sort out how to build a solution. and so you can be organizational centric in which each part of

the organization puts a stake in the solution because that is a way to survive. you start to reverse and you think about what is it that the people you are there to serve require and you reverse to that. so my sense is that the un has more than reform which many people talk about, is to get practical and define itself in space. in doing so you then start to understand how is it that things should be done and eventually you get to the reform aspects of what is it that should be changed and why should we change. i say this is a first priority because normally people will ask you how will you reform and you get into the discussion of adding a layer and adding a

certain level, i will go into going into getting things done and i think i have one -- to understand what is needed and enough of an outsider to understand how it should be done. so that is how i see my priorities. with this organization. so on the big problems of the world i believe that there is a strong need to have the secretary general playing a very big role of bridgebuilder, facilitator, and this is a moment where things get stuck very often so having the notion of the secretary general who can reach out and go quietly to

parties and propose options and alternatives is very important. at the same time be ready should that be necessary to stick an accountant say i'm going to use article 99 for the ones who don't know is the article that brings issues to the security council. one needs to be very careful with that but needs to be ready in the search to use it should there be any. on the other thing is that one also has to balance a lot and invest a lot on prevention. again, with office of the secretary general not only with security but also on climate change and on action. on the main issues that the world is facing today and coming from the oceans meeting when you look at that we do not do prevention and action soon we are going to travel. so that is

something the un needs to move to. a cma good friends is being a champion of these and he's been frustrated by the fact that we have not gotten far enough because clearly member states are ready when a disaster occurs but are not ahead ready ahead of time. in my sense is the agenda the climate change agreement and all the things that have come to fruition we will allow the next general to do it. >> will that was a wonderful response to a very difficult question in many respects and right within our time. the administer has to return to argentina. i think you all agree with me, argentina is extraordinarily fortunate to have someone with

her background, know-how, and, brainpower and we as a friend of argentina will enjoy working with you in the months and years