Four years of strengthening relations between Argentina and Texas

In an online event, the Argentina-Texas Chamber of Commerce celebrated its trajectory and recognized

the work of Eng. Marcelo Gioffre and Dr. Laura Bover for their outstanding contribution to the bilateral relations.

On May 26th, 2020, the Argentina-Texas Chamber of Commerce (ATCC) celebrated the 4th Anniversary since its foundation in 2016. Aligned with the times the world is living in, the celebration was held online and brought together members, authorities and key stakeholders.

The Consul General of Argentina in Houston, Honorable Gabriel Volpi, made a warm welcome and highlighted that the work of the Chamber will be of fundamental value now. “In these uncertain times, finding solutions will be an extra work for everybody and we will have to work together. From the beginning, the Chamber has been extremely helpful for the consular work and now it is going to be even more fundamental than before”, he stated.

Afterwards, Victoria Balaban, Past President of ATCC, reviewed the main achievements of 2019, sharing with all the participants how the Chamber enhanced and expanded the agenda of activities addressing key issues and opportunities in technology, oil and gas, healthcare, and women's empowerment.

Mr. Eduardo Nuñez, President of the Chamber for 2020-2021, presented the plans for this year, focusing not only on the main activities, but also on the way the Chamber carries out these activities. “Because for this Chamber it is not only important what we do, but also how we do things. How we do things speaks about our values, leadership style and how we make people feel during our interactions”, he said.

Mr. Nuñez explained the focus on strengthening the geographical presence of the Chamber in Austin, Buenos Aires, and Dallas as well as the leaderships teams of the Business Sectors Committees. He stressed the importance of staying closer than ever through virtual connections during this year of pandemics, and the focus that the Chamber has placed in providing value through webinars and online training sessions.

Every year, at the anniversary celebration, the Chamber recognizes those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the development of bilateral relationships, trade, and investment opportunities between Argentina and Texas.

In previous editions, the award was received by Mr. Gabriel Volpi, Consul General of the Argentine Republic in Houston, Mr. Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston, and Mr. Ali Moshiri, CEO de Amos Energy, and former senior executive of Chevron.

This year the Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Mr. Marcelo Gioffre, Vice President of Procurement and Supply Chain Management of Pan American Energy, for the significant contributions to the development of the energy sector value chain in Argentina and Texas. Mr. Gioffré has more than 30 years of experience in international business development, operations, and supply chain. 

Mr. Gioffré welcomed the award and discussed the difficult times the world is living because of the pandemic. “I believe that if we all do our part in the challenges that lay ahead, we will emerge from this crisis stronger as a society and as individuals. However, this won´t be achieved if we do not work as a team, as the Chamber does, working always as a great team, helping each other and helping communities and societies, and of course companies and small enterprises”, he said.

This year the ATCC established a new award designed to honor organizations or individuals who make outstanding contributions to the communities of Argentina and Texas through their time, actions, talents and dedication, in areas such as health, education, infrastructure, technology, trade, financing, etc. 

In this case, the Community Services Award was presented to Dr. Laura Bover for her work related to the use of convalescent plasma of recovered COVID-19 patients in Argentina. Dr. Bover is an Argentinean scientist and since 2002, she works at MD Anderson as Director of the Monoclonal Antibodies Core Facility.

“I am a researcher. I obtained my Ph.D. in Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and I worked for more than 30 years at the CONICET-Instituto Leloir. And of course, with all this background, I was eager to help in this pandemic”, Dr. Bover commented.

Since March, she has worked countless hours to assemble and lead a group of researchers, medical doctors, and other professionals to develop a protocol to apply convalescent plasma of recovered COVID-19 patients into critical ones. 

Finally, Mr. Nuñez closed the celebration with a toast to the Chamber, to all its members and partners for the four years of hard work and significant achievements.