» Spectacular trip into the Andes

SALTA The economy is back on track and the production of grain,
meat and energy is on the rise

Something like half a million people visit the northwest province of Salta every year. It's easy to understand why - it is a beautiful place, full of friendly people who make you feel welcome.

The Saltenos, as the inhabitants of the province are known, are well aware of what they have and intend to make the most of it. "We believe we have to take advantage of the natural beauty and culture, and put on show Andean Argentina," says Salta's governor, Juan Carlos Romero. The provincial government is actively seeking foreign investors to build a convention centre and new hotels to develop the tourism sector. This year will see the opening of a new museum of history in the capital of the province, which is also called Salta. Exhibits at the Museo de Altura will include mummies dating back to the reign of the old king Yaco, who ruled in this part of the world long before the first Europeans arrived.

"We want to show people the authenticity of the whole Inca culture and, as well as Yaco, our customs, and the symbiosis which came with Christian and Spanish colonisation," says Mr Romero. Salta was the scene of several battles in Argentina's fight for independence from Spanish colonial rule. Today, it is still possible for tourists to see the steep and narrow track where the renowned General Guemes led 4,000 troops across the mountain tops to join up with the revolutionary forces.

Extending over almost 155,000 sq km, Salta has a wealth of open space and a wide variety of climates. The terrain ranges from barren mountains in the north and west to the sub-tropical forests and farmland of the central and southern parts of the province. The south is home to Salta's vineyards and bodegas (wineries), where the visitor will receive a typically warm welcome. It is the second largest wine-producing province in Argentina, after Mendoza, which lies further south.

Salta's authorities are keenly aware of environmental issues and are eager to preserve the natural flora and fauna. The province has worked with many organisations to create a 'biological corridor' of protected natural areas across South America, contributing several stretches of forest to the project. The human aspect is just as important to Salta's tourism campaign, in particular the traditional culture of the people who live in the countryside, which Mr Romero thinks should hold a special attraction for visitors from Europe. Amid all this variety, Salta offers something rather special in the area of transport. This is the Train to the Clouds, one of the major feats of railway engineering in the world. The train winds its way upwards from the city of Salta through a series of spectacular spirals, tunnels and bridges before stopping at a bridge high in the Andes near the border with Chile.

While Mr Romero is keen to exploit the province's tourism potential, not least as a source of employment for a small but steadily growing population, he would like the area's economic development to be as broad as possible. Previously, he has had to impose order on a rickety economy, undermined by a mushrooming deficit on the budget. His response was to privatise loss-making state properties, including the electricity, water and sewage companies, as well as a provincial insurance company. The government of Salta is in the process of selling off the provincial state bank and has even privatised the normally lucrative state gambling industry. The remnants of the state have been restructured to ensure greater efficiency and the emphasis has shifted to the provision of education. Today, the debt has been re-financed, payments are being made on time, the budget is in balance, and the province is beginning to attract favourable views from the leading international credit-rating agencies.

Salta's economy is based primarily on agriculture and the most important crops are soya, beans, tobacco, sugar, vegetables and fruit, all of which provide the basis for the local food-processing industry. The province is also renowned for the wine that it grows and it has a prosperous cattle-ranching sector. Forestry has also assumed increasing importance in recent years. Farming accounts for about a fifth of the gross domestic product for the province. The service sector, encompassing transport, finance, communications, local government and, increasingly, tourism, accounts for a further 40 per cent.

Salta's complex geological structure has also turned out to contain many mineral riches, including gold, silver, iron, copper, lead and zinc in the mountainous west, lithium in salt deposits, and vast tracts of granite, marble, limestone and clay. In terms of the economy however, the most important natural resource developed so far has been natural gas, found principally in the north. The discovery of several large fields near Campo Duran, close to the border with Bolivia, during the early 1950s led to the construction of a pipeline which would transport gas to Buenos Aires. Salta now provides more than 12 per cent of Argentina's total natural gas supply. It also produces small quantities of crude oil and gas liquids, which are processed at a refinery at Campo Duran. A few years ago, industry analysts were warning that Salta's gas reserves were running low. Recent drilling and many new discoveries have proved the pessimists wrong. Current estimates are that Salta's reserves total more than 200 billion cubic metres of gas, sufficient to make it one of Argentina's largest gas-producing provinces for years to come.

These natural gas reserves are sufficient to prompt suggestions that the province could even develop a future petrochemical industry based on them. Salta exports gas via two pipelines across the Andes to northern Chile, and it also uses some gas to generate electricity for Chile and Bolivia. Analysts reckon that Salta has more than enough gas to be able to sell electricity to Paraguay and Brazil as well. Mr Romero wants to exploit Salta's location in the centre of Mercosur as well as its proximity to Chile and Bolivia, which are both affiliates of the economic alliance. "We can connect the Atlantic with the Pacific through populated and productive areas," he points out. He believes that the province and its surrounding area are capable of producing large amounts of grain, meat and energy. With industrialisation, the area could also become a significant market in its own right, serving as many as 30 million peo-ple, he adds. Developing this market would at last offer Salta a viable means of overcoming the economic disadvantages of being a long way from Argentina's principal internal market in and around Buenos Aires.