Argentine SME Leader Meets Pope Leo XIV to Present Business Concerns
Ricardo Diab, president of Argentina's CAME, delivered a document to Pope Leo XIV outlining the challenges and hopes of small and medium-sized enterprises ahead of the pontiff's planned visit to Argentina.
Ricardo Diab, president of the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME), met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican during a general audience and presented a document detailing the economic situation of Argentina's small and medium-sized businesses. The encounter took place just before the Pope's first apostolic journey to Argentina, scheduled for next month, giving the exchange particular significance for the country's productive sector.
The document, signed by SME associations from across the nation, outlines both the current economic landscape and the conditions CAME believes are necessary to spur production, investment, and formal employment. It highlights recent progress, including economic stability, greater predictability, falling inflation, and increased trade openness that could help companies seek new markets. At the same time, it draws attention to persistent obstacles: the need to revive domestic consumption, reduce the tax burden across all levels of government, improve access to productive financing, and lower operating costs.
CAME proposed the creation of a plural and federal roundtable to translate economic stability into higher investment, output, and registered job creation. Specific commitments include simplifying labor formalization for companies and workers, promoting training through partnerships among businesses, unions, universities, and the Church, and facilitating financing for investment, innovation, and first-time exports. The document also calls for strengthening territorial development, with a focus on regional economies and the infrastructure needed to add value at the source, as well as establishing a periodic social dialogue based on data and aimed at building consensus.
After the audience, Diab emphasized the social role of the Church and described SMEs as a central part of national production. «Las pymes somos la voz federal de la producción nacional. No pedimos privilegios: necesitamos reglas claras, acceso razonable al financiamiento y condiciones que nos permitan competir en igualdad de condiciones», he said. He also expressed CAME's adherence to the papal encyclical Magnífica Humanitas.
CAME represents 1,491 federations, chambers, centers, and business unions across all 23 provinces and the City of Buenos Aires. The meeting with Pope Leo XIV reflects the organization's intention to deepen dialogue with the Church and with different levels of government on policies affecting the SME sector. The timing, ahead of the Pope's visit, underscores the importance of the Church's voice in Argentina's public and economic life.
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