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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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It took Argentina four years to overcome one of its worst financial and economic crises in modern history. The architect of this performance is believed to be the President of the country Nestor Kirchner. Whether this good performance will be followed by another term of economic boom or it will only be a prologue to the next crisis will depend largely on the economic and financial policy of his successor. The presidential election in October 2007 will most likely oppose two candidates, among many others, that will use the popularity of the president in their campaigns. One of them is the former economy minister, Roberto Lavagna. The other is much more charismatic personality, the first lady Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Preliminary public opinion polls show that she can easily win the election.

Argentina four years ago was in a midst of economic and financial crisis, one of the deepest in its modern history. In parallel with this crisis, the country experienced political crisis, having several individuals succeeding the presidential office, only to sign their resignations days later. In this environment of chaos and broken lives, when literally millions of people lost their life savings, the turn toward better future was also sudden, and for some almost miraculous. Of course, there was nothing miraculous. The country that defaulted on its domestic and international obligations saved billions in interests only. The international demand for metals, the main Argentinean export commodities, went up, supported by strong and ever-increasing demand from China and other newly industrializing nations. Despite these external details, for millions of Argentineans, the current President Kirchner was the architect of this good economic performance.

The new Argentina, after the crisis, is a country that follows economic policy that supports exports and limits to a degree domestic consumption. As far as the international demand for commodities is strong, the domestic economy will go up, taking with it other domestic markets, including the real estate. The latter not only regained its pre-crisis price level, but also went further up, again turning the capital city of Buenos Aires into one of the most expensive large cities in the continents and beyond. Four years of promising economic policy is however not enough to lay down path dependent mechanisms that will last for a generation and more. That's why the personality and political ideology of the next president is so important.

The first lady, Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, is in this respect an ideal candidate for the large social coalition of stability and export-oriented development. In addition, she can also establish bridges toward new social forces, e.g. women movements, that look for greater political say in this still predominantly Catholic nation. What's even more important is that she will signal the international investors for the stability of the current economic policy, a policy that may last and bring fruits as far as the international demand for more commodities grows.

Argentina country profile:

• Area: 2,766,890 sq km
• Natural resources: fertile plains of the Pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium
• Population: 40.3 million (July 2007 est.)
• Population growth rate: 0.94% (2007 est.)
• Net migration rate: 0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
• Life expectancy at birth: 76.32 years
• Ethnic groups: white (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%
• GDP per capita: purchasing power parity $15,200 (2006 est.)
• Population below poverty line: 27% (2006 est.)
• Unemployment rate: 8.7% (2006 est.)
• Main trading partners: Brazil, the United States, EU, Chile, and China.
• Internet users: 13.0 million (2007 est.)

(Sources: CIA World Factbook 2007; Reuters)

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Argentina.