Left to right: Ricardo Lagorio, Gov. Bob Riley and Pompeyo Carlos Layús.  Photo courtesy of the Consulate General of Argentina in Atlanta.

The governors of Alabama and Argentina’s Buenos Aires province are working with the Consulate General of Argentina in Atlanta to build partnerships between the two regions, particularly in agriculture and alternative energy.

The consulate promotes business and cultural ties between the South American nation and the six Southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Buenos Aires province is south and west of Argentina’s capital of the same name, but does not include the city itself.

Consul General Pompeyo Carlos Layús of Argentina told GlobalAtlanta that Alabama Gov. Bob Riley visited the country June 5-7.  Mr. Riley hosted a reciprocal delegation the next month including Ricardo Lagorio, chief of staff to Buenos Aires’ Gov. Daniel Scioli.

Hilda Lockhart, director of the Alabama Development Office’s trade division, said that areas in which Buenos Aires and Alabama can share best practices include public health, tourism and trade.

Mr. Riley’s visit was part of an annual trip to South America to encourage trade through the port city of Mobile, Ala.

“We had planned a return mission to Chile and were looking at a new market, and Argentina kept popping up,” Ms. Lockhart said.  “Argentina’s gone through some tough times, but it’s emerging through the economic woes they’ve experienced and we want to be there to get some of that business.”

She added that the two governors’ offices are working in consultation with the consulate to bring Mr. Scioli to Alabama to formalize an agreement between the two states.

Ms. Lockhart said they want to establish a series of regular exchanges between officials from both areas.

“Their governor wants to make something happen, not just sign a piece of paper and let it sit on the shelf,” she said.

The growing ties are not only between the governments. Auburn University in Alabama signed a cooperative agreement with the National Institute for Agriculture Technology in Buenos Aires following the June trip.

Auburn associate professor Diego M. Gimenez Jr. said the university also has agreements with the National University of Central Buenos Aires Province, National University of Mar del Plata and National University of Northeast Buenos Aires Province.

Dr. Gimenez said the agreements are to establish student and faculty exchanges and joint research in agricultural product application, food safety and natural resource conservation.

Mr. Layús said that Ron Sparks, Alabama’s commissioner for agriculture and industries, is visiting Argentina Sept. 5 to continue exploring partnership opportunities.

He added that as Argentina’s biodiesel production from soybeans continues to grow, Alabama could benefit from new uses of agricultural products.

“Both areas are in phases of the evolution from strong rural agriculture dependency to more industry and diverse manufacturing activities,” Mr. Layús said.  “Agriculture provides the material and the many uses for biodiesel in machinery, trucks and so forth.”

Ms. Lockhart said that Alabama has a number of biofuel projects under way, mainly focusing on scrap forest material as a source of fuel.  The first plant to convert this type of biomass into ethanol is being built by Range Fuels LLC in Soperton, Ga., and similar climates in the neighboring states make wood-based alternative energy a possibility.