The first edition of the Argentina Business & Investment Forum, a groundbreaking initiative launched by President Mauricio Macri and hosted by the Argentina Investment and Trade Promotion Agency, will be held in Buenos Aires from September 12-14, 2016, with a dedicated day for Innovation & Entrepreneurship on September 15.

Designed to highlight investment opportunities, attract foreign direct investment, and mark the country’s historical return to international markets, this important forum will be a major step forward in the implementation of the government’s business and investment reforms.

The Forum will serve as a platform for discussions, debates, presentations of investment opportunities and high-level meetings between Argentinean business and government leaders and international investors and partners, with the goal of stimulating the economy and improving the welfare of all of Argentina’s citizens.

Southern Cross Advisors is specifically focused on business and investment opportunities in the areas of adventure tourism, boutique hotel and resort development, corporate structuring, financial management,  and a myriad of options for importing needed consumer products. SCA is also devoted to restoring middle class housing development, as Argentina's middle class suffered tremendously under the Kirchner government. Not only is there a shortage of middle class housing, but what is available is far too expensive and a strain on middle class families.

For more information on the forum, click here to visit the forum web site, or contact Stephen at Southern Cross Advisors.

President Macri, with Decree  820/2016 del 29 de junio, has modified the onerous Decree, N° 274/12, made by ex-president Christina Kirchner on December 22, 2011 that became known as “Ley de Tierras”.

While the Law of Tierras Rurales created many restrictions against foreigners owning rural land in Argentina (for example, no foreigner could buy more than 1,000 hectares, about 2,500 acres, in prime rural areas), it also created a National Registry for foreign land owners in Buenos Aires where Kirchner paid government workers (mostly managed by La Campora noquis) could just table all paperwork and let it sit forever. Further, the law placed an arbitrary 15% maximum ownership of rural land by foreigners, and intentionally created vague language so that 15% could be interpreted by the Kirchner people however they wanted; regardless of the law, or the calculations of the Provinces. Until this law passed, each Province had their own registry to register lands, including land owned by foreigners, so the law further eroded any participation or power of the Provinces.

The modifications Macri has made in the law, are just the beginning, and part of his campaign promise to encourage foreign investment in Argentina again. First, fair calculations of the 15% are being done (it turns out only 6% of rural lands are owned by foreigners), and additional decrees aim to raise or eliminate the ceiling, and also to increase the amount of rural land a foreigner can buy from 1,000 hectares, to 3,000 or more, and perhaps remove that restriction as well. Most importantly for the short term, is that Macri's decree, and his firing of the La Campora noquis (a noquis is a doughy pasta that does nothing, like the workers who were paid high salaries by the Kirchner government to do nothing), means that proper paperwork submitted by Argentine escribanos for the purchase of rural lands by foreigners will actually be processed and approved.

In short, it is now much easier again for foreigners to purchase rural lands, and a second Decree is being analyzed and prepared that will potentially take away all the speed bumps in a law that never should have been passed (it's unconstitutional). Further, Macri is traveling again throughout Latin America, the U.S., and Europe to encourage foreign investment in his country.  From a buyers or investors perspective, this is an ideal time to begin due diligence on important rural properties for purchase and development.