After the death of his son Agostino in an air accident, Paolo Rocca took over the leadership of an organization that today employs more than eighteen thousand people in Brazil. The harmony shown in Santa Cruz between the Argentine business community and the Government of Brazil highlights a strategic divergence: while Brasilia bets on an alliance between the State and heavy industry to strengthen its development, Buenos Aires maintains a policy of direct confrontation with the historical actors of the national productive fabric.
Buenos Aires, March 6 (NA) - In a context marked by the growing confrontation between the industrial sector and the Executive Branch in Argentina, the president of the Techint Group, Paolo Rocca, headed this Friday along with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the inauguration of an educational institution in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The meeting, which included gestures of cordiality and strong mutual support for technical training, comes just days after the Argentine president, Javier Milei, launched harsh criticisms against business leadership during his speech before the Legislative Assembly, as reported by the Argentine News Agency.
The ceremony took place in Santa Cruz, where an industrial hub operates that employs eight thousand people under the orbit of the steel conglomerate. There, the Roberto Rocca Technical School was formally inaugurated, the third of its kind globally, joining those already operating in Campana, Argentina, and Nuevo León, Mexico.
During the event, Paolo Rocca highlighted that investment in technical education responds to the firm's conviction about the central role that industry plays in the economic and social progress of the countries where they operate.
On this occasion, Javier Milei used pejorative terms to refer to the main industrial leaders of the country, alluding to Paolo Rocca as a provider of expensive inputs in the framework of the tenders for the Vaca Muerta gas pipeline.
These mentions, added to the previous complaints of the Argentine Industrial Union for the loss of competitiveness and the opening of imports, have configured a scenario of rupture between the manufacturing sector and the Casa Rosada.
For its part, the figure of Roberto Rocca, in whose honor the inaugurated school pays tribute, represents the international consolidation of the group founded by Agostino Rocca.
The businessman was accompanied by Máximo Vedoya, who serves as CEO of Ternium, a company that has a production plant a few kilometers from the new educational establishment.
The political relevance of the event transcends the strictly corporate due to the deep ideological and diplomatic gap that separates the leaders of the two main economies of Mercosur.
While Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his official channels to spread images of the hug with Paolo Rocca and to praise education as a driver of national transformation, in Argentina the relationship between the Government and the Argentine Industrial Union is going through its most critical moment.
This approach of the Techint leader to the Brazilian president is interpreted in diplomatic circles as a message of autonomy in the face of the rhetoric of the Argentine Executive, which maintains an open hostility relationship with the Brasilia administration.
The internal confrontation in Argentina has escalated significantly after the recent opening speech of the ordinary sessions of the National Congress.