The Center Region of Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 (in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, Región Centro) is the political and economical association of the provinces

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of Córdoba

Córdoba Province (Argentina)

Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...

, Santa Fe

Santa Fe Province

The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...

 and Entre Ríos

Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....

.
The legal framework for this kind of regional association, the first and only in the country, is Article 124 of the Argentine Constitution

Constitution of Argentina

The constitution of Argentina is one of the primary sources of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution...

.
These three provinces, located along the central and central-east part of the country, have a total population of 7,225,649 and an area of 377,109 km², being large enough to function as an operative unit in the international economy. The Center Region concentrates 53% of the production of grain, 70% of the manufacturing of agricultural machinery, 90% of the production of vegetable oils, 70% of the production of milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

, the whole production of peanut

Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...

s, more than half of the poultry

Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...

, and 34% of the cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 in Argentina.

Origin

On 15 November 1973 an Intention Letter was signed by the governors of the three provinces (Carlos Sylvestre Begnis

Carlos Sylvestre Begnis

Carlos Sylvestre Begnis was a medical doctor and politician, born in Alto Grande, a village near Bell Ville, Córdoba province in Argentina. He was a rural physician and worked as a surgeon in hospitals of the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe.He entered politics through the Radical Civic Union...

, Ricardo Obregón Cano

Ricardo Obregón Cano

Ricardo Obregón Cano was an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. Born in Río Cuarto, Córdoba, he was Governor of Córdoba from May 25, 1973 to February 28, 1974...

 and Juan Cresto), acknowledging their political interest in joining. The project, however, did not progress until 9 May 1998, when Ramón Mestre

Ramón Mestre

Ramón Bautista Mestre , an Argentine politician, was Governor of Córdoba from July 12, 1995 to July 12, 1999. He also served as Federal Interventor of Corrientes Province , Minister of the Interior , and Mayor of the City of Córdoba Ramón Bautista Mestre (August 21, 1937 – March 6, 2003), an...

 (governor of Córdoba) and Jorge Obeid

Jorge Obeid

Jorge Alberto Obeid is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician, currently an Argentine Chamber of Deputies and former governor of Santa Fe Province until 2007....

(governor of Santa Fe) issued a joint declaration.

The Center Region (La Región Central) was officially formed by Córdoba and Santa Fe by a treaty signed on 15 August 1998. Entre Ríos adhered to the treaty on 6 April 1999.

Organization

The Center Region is administered by four main organisms:

• Governors' Committee (Junta de Gobernadores): It is formed by the governors of the members provinces, in command of the political management of the integration process and the actions needed to reach the goals set for the Region.
• Executive Committee (Comité Ejecutivo): It is in charge of implementing and executing the consensual policies of the Governors' Committee. Formed by the ministers and other top-rank officials of the different areas of each provincial administrations (secretaries, heads of independent state organizations, etc.), or representatives thereof appointed by the provinces. The Committee is led by an Executive Board made up of one representative of each province.
• Administrative Secretariat (Secretaría Administrativa): It coordinates the technical and administrative business of the Region, executes the actions commanded by the Governors' Committee and the Executive Committee, insures the fulfilling of the compromises derived from the foundational treaties and other norms, and assists the other organs of the Region technically and logistically.
• Joint Parliamentary Commission (Comisión Parlamentaria Conjunta): A group of four permanent internal commissions (Economy and Production; Infrastructure and Services; General Legislation; and Institutional and Municipal/Communal Affairs).