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9 Cristiano Ratazzi, of Adefa, the entity representing the Argentinian car industry, also stood behind the concept of trade integration in the region. In the case of Argentina and Brazil, he pointed out that the technical norms must be unified – but he mentioned that the countries have been working towards this end for years: “With the free trade agreement with Mexico we need to be more competitive and one way to accomplish that goal is convergence, producing under the same norms, which would help to bring costs down”. Ratazzi also stood behind the termination of some taxes, like the one on exports, so as to enable local manufacturers to be as competitive as Mexico, which already has an industry geared to produce and sell vehicles to other markets. Dan Iochpe, president of Sindipeças, the entity representing local manufacturers of auto parts, and Raul Amil, president of Afac, the counterpart association in Argentina, also took part in the panel; they agree on the need for a better economic integration of the countries and with the convergence of the automotive industry in Argentina and Brazil. To Iochpe it is necessary to also increase the competitiveness of the manufacturers of auto parts, but in general terms: “Competitiveness is a problem in all areas in Brazil and the change process must be horizontal, instead of picking sectors to change the tax issues. It is also necessary that the process be gradual and progressive, taking into account the current degree of competitiveness of the industry in the country”. The exec also believes that the automotive industry needs to accede to new markets, thereby decreasing its dependence on the Argentinian market: “At a point in time, we exported as much as 28% of the total production of the country. For the current year, the estimate is 19%, on account of the crisis affecting the neighboring country”. Amil said that if both countries are to increase competitiveness, governments need to strive to reduce the tax burden and at the same time companies have to concern themselves with productivity increase and cost reduction: “If these changes were to take place and new trade agreements were signed we could be an exporting industry”. Integration of the car parts industries in both countries was also supported by the executives, and, according to Amil, there are many possibilities for doing business together: “In gearboxes we have a good example of complementarity”.