By Peter Johnson for Buenosairesherald.com

The absence of two key speakers from a panel debate at today's IDEA Colloqy taking place in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata riled the business community gathered for this traditional yearly gathering.

Labour Minister Norma Rial, who was scheduled to take part in a discussion on employment, backed out at the last moment and the head of the ADEBA Argentine banks association, Jorge Britos, did the same in another panel.

Their withdrawal has left the Colloquy without the participation of any representative from the official sector, except for Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli, who opened the Colloquy on Wednesday night but restricted his comments to what was required by protocol.

The IDEA Colloquy launched the day's events with a panel discussion in which the key speakers where Argentine Rural Society President Hugo Biolcatti, and the head of the Argentine Industrial Union, Hector Mendez.

During the event Biolcatti recommended that the industrial sector should become more involved in daily politics in a similar way that the farm sector had been forced to act, and went on to regret that the business sector had not offered more support during the farm sector's confrontation with the government.

Biolcatti was blunt "The government is taking over our profits, your (UIA) profits and even your companies."

"Businessmen make the basic mistake when they consider that the government is an enemy of the farm sector as it is everybody's enemy and is seeking to take control of everything for ever."

While admitting that it would be difficult to work together on day to day issues, Biolcatti stated that there were a lot of critical issues in common on which the business and farming sector could work together on.

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