A new edition of MICA, Argentina's Cultural Industries Market, has begun in Buenos Aires City.

It is the largest gathering of cultural producers in the region.

The initiative aims to give visibility to proposals from all over the country and to put the actors of the sector in contact with each other.

The MICA encompasses cultural sectors such as music, theater, dance, audiovisual arts and video games, among others.

It brings together artists, managers and entrepreneurs, so that they can link up and generate projects and job opportunities.

The inauguration of the tenth edition took place at the CCK, the Kirchner Cultural Centre in the Argentine capital.

The event was headed by the Minister of Culture, Tristán Bauer, and the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo de Pedro.

At the opening, messages from Argentina's Vice-President CFK and Brazilian President Lula da Silva were played.

The former Argentine president stressed that the MICA, launched during her administration in 2011, has "a very high economic and productive impact".

And she added that it is "a generator of highly qualified jobs".

Lula, meanwhile, asserted that "for us culture is an essential part of Brazilian identity".

And he continued: "it is a constitutional right, but it is also an extraordinary source of employment and income and a driving force for the economy".