The minister of External relationships, Francisco Bustillo, travel today to China to meet his peer Qing Gang, with the aim of advancing in negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that for months have been blocked by causes external to the intentions of the government of Uruguay.
A lot of time has passed since July 2022when the president Luis Lacalle Pou announced that, after ten months, the feasibility studies satisfactorily. However, that event that seemed to be the first big step towards the culmination of the negotiations regarding the commercial relationship with the Asian giant, seems to have been, instead, the application of ellipsis that continue until today.
An intermediate initiative, between discussions and confrontations with the members of the mercosur Due to the progress —purely theoretical and hypothetical— of the FTA individually by the country with one of the region’s strategic partners, it was the change of the chief negotiator with China, always with the same objective: to try to unlock the talks.
Thus, last December, it was announced that the then Chief of Staff of the Foreign Ministry, Fernando López Fabregat, would be replaced by the Uruguayan ambassador in Germany, Gabriel Bellón, with extensive experience in large-scale multilateral and trade agreements in positions such as general manager for Integration and Mercosur issuesthat of chief negotiator of Uruguay for the negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the regional block between 2016 and 2017.
This castling – while López Fabregat was transferred to the vacant position in Berlin— It took effect in February. However, little else has happened since then in terms of progress with China, as the Asian giant signed an “express” FTA with Ecuador, in just a total of ten months.
Brazil, a key player in Chinese delays
China asked for “patience” in November, in the face of pressure from the Uruguayan government and growing concerns about the null progress in the FTA. At that time, the explanations pointed to technical reasons linked to the completion of a “state of the art” and “very comprehensive” agreement.
The Chinese diplomats argued that the extra time was due to “consultations and coordination with all government departments”, as well as “unions and all sectors involved”; and a recomposition of the team in charge of the talks to achieve the best agreement possible, even though the feasibility study had already been submitted for several months.
But, and even despite the fact that from the other side of the world they contrasted the “rapid” progress with Uruguay in relation to Colombia —which analyzes a feasibility study for 10 years and with no visible end in the short term—, the anxiety grew to the point that Bustillo himself came to say in December that the only thing missing “is for China to show signs” of interest.
The delays, however, were not accidental, and coincided with electoral times in Brazil and the possibility of a political change of government that finally happened. The return of Lula da Silva to the presidency meant the reopening of the key alliance between the two powers – members of the BRICS— and, therefore, of new lines of negotiation at the regional level.
The scenario changed and, thus, Brazil began to play a more important role in the Uruguayan FTA. This was also understood by Lacalle Pou, who moderated his attitude towards regional partners and approached the Brazilian president as a possible access route to a cold and increasingly distant China in terms of bilateral trade.
“Slowly but surely”
Meanwhile, in February an economic team from the Asian giant visited the country for the first time in three years and, although there was agreement on the need to bring the two countries closer together, the FTA was not a topic of debate that was put on the negotiating table. .
Finally, in the last days of March, the Chinese ambassador to the country, wang gang, He explained that the negotiations regarding the trade agreement are advancing “slowly but without pause” and that the technical teams of both countries are in “permanent contact.” “We are pushing, we continue to promote this relationship. We are going to make the maximum effort and row together so that everything can come to fruition,” he promised at the time, at the same time assuring that The Argentine and Brazilian position regarding the agreement “does not harm or influence” in its progress.
Now, Bustillo is traveling to China just two days after the Brazilian president’s visit to the Asian country, with the hope of returning with concrete progress regarding the FTA. In this sense, his meeting not only with the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, but also with the Vice Minister of Commerce, will be key. Wang Shouwen.
Source: Ambito
