Débora Giorgi
Débora Adriana Giorgi is an Argentine economist, formerly the nation's Minister of Industry.Life and career
Giorgi was born in Balvanera, Buenos Aires, in 1959 and graduated with honors from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina with a degree in Economics, later publishing numerous academic articles in her specialty. She entered the world of high finance as an arbitrageuse and, in 1989, co-founded Alpha Economic Studies, a financial consulting firm contracted by then-Argentine Central Bank President Javier González Fraga, a prominent conservative figure. She married Javier Ordóñez, a lawyer, in 1986, had one son and later bought a home in Buenos Aires' upscale Belgrano section.
Giorgi left Alpha Economic Studies in 1999 to accept a prominent post as Secretary of Commerce at the hand of newly elected President Fernando de la Rúa's first Economy Minister, José Luis Machinea. Later named Secretary of Energy and Mining, she was transferred to the powerful post of Secretary of Industry by Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo. Following President Fernando de la Rúa's resignation in December 2001, she returned to Alpha, whereby she was invited as Director of the International Negotiation Center of the Argentine Industrial Union, Argentina's leading manufacturers' lobby.
Giorgi was appointed Minister of Production of the Province of Buenos Aires by Governor Felipe Solá in 2005. In that capacity, she reopened the Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations, making the pursuit of foreign trade avenues central to her department's policy. She was also instrumental in the adoption of sizable tax cuts in the province during her tenure.
The 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector helped lead to the reinauguration of the Production Ministry at the urging of UIA President José Ignacio de Mendiguren. The powerful Economy Ministry transferred a number of influential Secretariats to the new Cabinet-level position, which would have oversight over much of the Argentine economy's goods-producing sector in its purview. Recommended by Buenos Aires Province Governor Daniel Scioli, Débora Giorgi was sworn in as Production Minister on November 26, 2008. By way of further steps to improve her strained relations with the important agrarian sector, President Cristina Kirchner transferred the Production Ministry's farm policy portfolio into a new Ministry of Agriculture, renaming the former post as the Ministry of Industry.
Giorgi implemented numerous measures in support of import substitution industrialization during her tenure, and presided over a marked shift toward domestic supply among a growing number of sectors previously dominated by imports.
