Marisa Bircher is Argentina’s new International Trade Secretary, the Production and Labour Ministry confirmed.
Bircher replaces Miguel Braun in the role. Former Domestic Trade under-secretary, Ignacio Werner, will take on the Domestic Trade component of the portfolio as secretary.
The reshuffle is part of a broader restructuring of the Executive, which President Mauricio Macri announced last month as a cost-saving measure.
Miguel Braun will move to the Interior Ministry, replacing current Central Bank Governor Guido Sandleris, as the head of Economic Policy.
PROFILE: BIRCHER
Bircher is the former secretary of Agro-Industry Markets at the Agriculture Ministry. Her portfolio and others were absorbed into Production and Labour with the demotion of Agriculture into a secretariat.
She has a degree in International Trade from the Boston Bank Foundation and Marina Mercante University, with a post-graduate in International Marketing and International Trade. Bircher has held roles in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Fundacion Exportar, the SGS Group, and was director general of the Economic Development Ministry at Buenos Aires City Hall.
Bircher’s roles will include “strategies for the intelligent trade insertion of Argentina in global production chains, the promotion of investment, the opening up of new markets for Argentine products and the simplification of trade procedures”, the Production Ministry said in a statement.
PROFILE: WERNER
Werner is a University of Buenos Aires (UBA) law graduate with previous career experience in the Economic Development team at Buenos Aires City Hall. From June 2017, he was under-secretary of Domestic Trade under Braun. He has practiced as a lawyer at the Brons & Salas law firm and is a Trade Law professor at the UBA.
Werner's role will include “the implementation of policies that promote transparency, competition in markets and the simplification of trade, the defence of consumer rights and the security of commercialised products”, the Production Ministry said.
-TIMES/AGENCIES
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