Visit to Argentina - October 2005

As on previous occasions I wish to make a statement to the Assembly on my visit to Argentina.

The warmth of welcome I received throughout the visit was very good and emphasised the continuity of the strong links Wales has with Argentina, through which Wales becomes, to a large degree, exempt from the difficulties of the past quarter century in the British – Argentine relationship.  This positive attitude to Wales includes the Welsh community in Y Wladfa in Patagonia and applies now, even with Peronist administrations at the Argentine and the Chubut province.  Until very recently Peronist politics would be pretty cool towards the Welsh community in Patagonia and vice versa.  Now it is definitely ‘cool’ to be a Welsh-Argentine.

The main focus of the time spent in Buenos Aires was commercial. Wales Trade International (WTI) and the British Embassy had put together a team of over forty Welsh designers and architects to create a Welsh loft (Y Llofft) in Casa FOA, Latin America's most prestigious interior design show, in celebration of the 140th anniversary of the Welsh immigration to Argentina. The resulting space is a showcase for Welsh creative industries locally and, through WTI, its flair will be projected internationally, and has already attracted interest from and link with a major hotel expansion project in Montevideo. I visited the loft on 27 October where I was given a tour of the space by Mercedes Campos Malbran de Guerrero and Ines Campos Malbran de Miguens, Directors of Casa FOA.  I was then presented with a lattice work glass "coracle", designed by Keith Munro and manufactured by Planas Viau, the first product of a Welsh/Argentine joint venture in decorative glass production.

Later that day I attended a reception at the Ambassador’s residence for the WTI trade mission, who were not in the main linked with Casa FOA – with the Swansea LED/laser dermatology cluster and media animation companies being well represented.

On 28th October I met Vice President Scioli at his extraordinary private residence (dotted with relics of his career as a powerboat racer), and where I presented him with one of these glass coracles, a signed Welsh Grand Slam rugby jersey and a miners lamp.  

The rest of the time was spent in the Patagonian province of Chubut, where the Welsh community is celebrating 140 years since the first settlers arrived on the Mimosa. I had  a protocol meeting with the Governor of the province and the mayors of the main towns with a Welsh presence, which proved to be very positive. The Governor of Chubut aims to send a trade and cultural mission to Wales to coincide with next year's Eisteddfod in August 2006. I then hosted a reception for members of the Welsh community and local and provincial dignitaries. Also there was Matthew Rhys the star Welsh actor.  He was there to arrange the filming of ‘the Rocky Trip’, the historic westward journey to the Andes foothills by John Daniel Evans and his ‘wonder horse’ Malacara which led to the setting up of the western end of the Wladfa in the Trevelin and Esquel – and to the critical influence of this community in getting that stateless area of Patagonia into Argentina, not Chile and by plebiscite not armed struggle a century ago.      


I was given the opportunity to see the Welsh Language Project funded by the Welsh Assembly Government in action when I participated in a Welsh language class and visited the present Welsh nursery and the site of its proposed permanent replacement building met most of the current teachers from Wales working in Chubut.  I also officially handed over 1000 books and educational material to help Welsh language teachers in Patagonia, which had been organised by the Welsh Books Council.

Finally I attended the highlight of the annual Chubut Eisteddfod at Trelew, the chairing of the bard ceremony.  To see this Welsh community maintaining its language and culture so far from Wales was truly inspirational, not only to me but to the Governor of Chubut and the Mayor of Trelew, and a healthy number of Welsh tourists on package tours to Argentina.

Since the peso lost two thirds of its value in the debt default crisis of 2001/2, Argentina has become a reasonably cheap location for tourists, although internal distances are huge, including the distance from Europe.  What makes Trelew / Chubut particularly promising for eco-tourism is that the Porth Madryn / Valdes Peninsula / Chubut Valley / Wladfa experience is all within a circle of less that one hundred miles, very compact for a country of more than 3000 miles north to south.

Alongside the extraordinary marine wildlife of the Valdes Peninsula, where the Mimosa landed (southern right whales, killer whales, albatrosses, seals, sea-lions, etc), the Welsh heritage, Welsh chapels, Welsh tea-rooms, are part of that tourism experience for German and American tourists just as much as for the substantial number of Welsh tourists we actually met.  This is probably one of the reasons why the provincial government has funded the restoration of at least some of the Welsh chapels.

The Argentine economy has grown 30% since the collapse of 2001/2, recovering to pre default GDP levels. Clearly going up the next 30% will be far more difficult but the professional and business classes of Argentina are very well off but inequalities of income have widened sharply.

As Argentina is one of those half dozen countries in the world where you do not have to explain who, what, or where Wales is, it is a country worth putting some effort into trade development.  Argentina has the best engineers, scientists, graphic designers, medical experts, etc in South America and opportunities for resource-related trade developments are limitless.

I am very grateful to His Excellency John Hughes (a native of the Rhymney Valley), the British Ambassador and his staff, especially Owen Jenkins and Alfredo Fierro, for helping to make the brief but very fruitful visit worthwhile, including the extensive, remarkably factual and objective press coverage we received.