Mendoza Promotes Copper Potential in Paris
The governor of Mendoza, Alfredo Cornejo, promoted the province's potential for metallic mining development, particularly copper, before European business executives and investors during his participation in the second edition of Argentina Week, an event held in Paris that brings together national and provincial authorities, business leaders, and investors with the goal of showcasing business opportunities offered by the country.
The Argentine delegation was led by President Javier Milei and included a group of governors from different provinces and political affiliations, including Maximiliano Pullaro (Santa Fe), Martín Llaryora (Córdoba), Ignacio Torres (Chubut), Rogelio Frigerio (Entre Ríos), Raúl Jalil (Catamarca), Osvaldo Jaldo (Tucumán), Gustavo Sáenz (Salta), Carlos Sadir (Jujuy), Marcelo Orrego (San Juan), and Claudio Poggi (San Luis). The delegation also included officials from the national Cabinet and business leaders from various productive sectors of the country.
A showcase for provincial economies
Argentina Week functions as an economic promotion platform where the national government and provinces present to the European financial and industrial community the status of structural reforms undertaken since 2023 and the investment opportunities opening up in sectors such as energy, mining, agroindustry, and infrastructure. The second edition of the event took place with the simultaneous presence of a dozen governors, which the participants themselves interpreted as a signal of institutional backing for the national economic direction.
Following President Milei's remarks before business executives and investors, Cornejo believed the President's presentation allowed for an assessment of economic management while also projecting opportunities ahead for the country. "I believe he made a balance of economic reforms. I think the general direction was correct, the one needed for this type of event. Calling on investors to invest in Argentina with information and presenting his vision of his administration, as well as future opportunities," said the Mendoza governor.
In his address, Milei emphasized the evolution of key macroeconomic variables, the structural reforms promoted by his administration, the commercial and financial opening of the Argentine economy, and the range of opportunities the country offers to international investors. For Cornejo, such encounters are relevant because they allow each province to showcase its own competitive advantages and align them with international demand for goods and services.
Mendoza's copper strategy
When asked by the press about his province's productive profile, Cornejo outlined a landscape combining Mendoza's traditional activities with an emerging strategy for diversification into metallic mining. "Mendoza has an important brand linked to viticulture, agroindustry, beverage production, particularly wine. Additionally, it has an oil heritage, with the country's second-largest refinery. So that brand transcends it. Now we are trying to add metallic mining, particularly copper, which has very strong global demand and demand to mitigate the effects of climate change and electromobility," the governor stated.
The reference to the oil industry points to Mendoza's historical trajectory as one of the country's oldest producing basins, while the mention of copper points to a medium-term objective: adding metallic mining activity to the provincial productive matrix, an activity that until now has not achieved the development reached in other Andean jurisdictions such as San Juan or Catamarca. Cornejo did not specify particular projects or investment amounts during his Paris presentation, but positioned copper as a key area of work to deepen in coming years, in line with global demand for critical minerals.
"I believe there is great appetite for these minerals that are in high demand. Europe is a producer, for example, of automobiles, and has a need for these elements," Alfredo Cornejo said before European investors gathered at Argentina Week.
The link with Europe and the Mercosur-European Union agreement
The Mendoza governor explicitly linked European interest in copper to energy transition and electromobility, two processes that have increased global demand for minerals such as lithium, copper, and other strategic inputs for batteries and electrical components. In that context, he emphasized the role that the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union can play as a facilitator of future business between Mendoza and European markets.
"The Mercosur-European Union agreement is a major advance that will create medium-term business opportunities for Mendoza. I believe it is positive to deepen this line of work," Cornejo said, referring to the free trade treaty that, if perfected in its implementation, would reduce tariffs and facilitate trade between both blocs, potentially including metallic minerals.
The governor's approach is part of a regional trend in which various Argentine provinces with copper geological potential seek to position themselves before international investors in a context of relative scarcity of copper supply globally and prices sustained by demand from the electric automotive industry and renewable energy.
Structural reforms and political support
Beyond the productive focus, Cornejo valued the joint participation of governors from different political affiliations as a sign of continuity in dialogue between the provinces and the national government. During his speech, Milei had thanked several provincial governors for their support in Congress to advance structural reforms and highlighted the presence of governors in Paris as institutional backing for the economic transformation process underway.
"What I believe was very good about the President, and was fair, was his recognition of many of us governors who have been supporting him in structural reforms, even though we are not from his party. And I think making it public, as he did, recognizing it publicly, was intellectually honest and helps consolidate these reforms and provides certainty to Argentina," Cornejo said.
The Mendoza governor considered that continuity of reforms constitutes a central element for generating predictability and attracting long-term investments in both mining and other productive sectors. In that sense, he argued that Argentina must move toward a scenario of greater institutional and economic stability, taking as reference countries in the region that, regardless of political changes, have managed to sustain stable rules of the game that favor access to credit and capital inflows.
The Paris tour adds to a series of international promotion initiatives in which various Argentine provinces, including Mendoza, seek to capture the interest of investment funds, banks, and European industrial companies in projects linked to energy, mining, and agroindustry, in a context where the national government is promoting an incentives scheme for large investments as a reference framework for mobilizing significant capital in strategic sectors.