A brief introduction on RGT

RGT(Red Global de Trueque, Global Barter Network in English) is a multireciprocal exchange network born on May 1st, 1995 at Bernal, Quilmes city, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina and has right now hundreds of thousands members not only in this country but in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Spain(click here to see the website of RGT Uruguay).

RGT started as a garage flea market held by PAR(Programa de Autosuficiencia Regional, Regional Self-Sufficiency Program), concretely by Horacio Covas, Carlos de Sanzo and Rubén Ravera. This system grew very rapidly due to the economic hardship Argentina is suffering from, not only in Buenos Aires metropolitan area but also other regions of this country, and as a matter of fact quite a few people live only on RGT.

There are hundreds of "nodos" which form RGT. Each nodo holds weekly flea markets where people exchange a variety of daily goods, such as foods, clothes, cosmetics and stationeries. As RGT is defined as a network of nodos, members os the nodo A can go to nodo B or C to join their flea markets to exchange too. Click here or here to see the photos of these flea markets.

Exchanges are done by vouchers called "créditos(credits)." A credit is equal to one Argentine peso(=one US dollar). Members receive 50 credits on joining and with these credits they do their transactions.

We should underscore the concept of "prosumer" in RGT: it's a word coined by tying together "producer" and "consumer," meaning that RGT members are individuals who are producers and consumers at the same time.

On top of that an agreement was signed between RGT and the Secretariat of Small and Middle-sized Enterprizes of the Ministry of Economy. This means the Argentine government recognizes RGT as a tool to promote venture businesses.

(mig@lime.plala.or.jp)