The minister of Foreign Relations, Francisco Bustillo, spoke about the state of relations with China in it Parliament, and pointed out the certain “possibility” that the president Luis Lacalle Pou travel this year to the Asian country. On the other hand, he shared a not very optimistic view regarding the signing of the FTA (TLC) and the future of Uruguay in it Mercosur.
“We are working towards an eventual visit by the president. We hope to be able to finalize it before the end of the year; We do not have a date yet, but we are working in this regard,” the foreign minister announced in his appearance before the International Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Senators.
However, the signing of the FTA so longed for by the government may not be a topic on the agenda, despite the efforts to advance in the negotiations bilaterally. As confirmed by Bustillo, it will depend on Brazil, and Uruguay —although it is “in a position to move forward right now” with the agreement, it will have “the delicacy to wait for the next steps in the event” that the northern country decides to join, as the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva he would also have stated during his visit to China.
A difficult scenario for international insertion
The optimism that the government was able to maintain regarding the FTA with China is increasingly distant, to the point that it made it strain relations with its Mercosur peers to the extreme. Now, the comment attached to the agreement with the Asian country is “it depends on Lula.”
The truth is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs no longer expects anything concrete until the agreement with the European Union (EU) —something that he does not expect in the short or medium term due to the difficulties and opposition among European countries—, although Bustillo’s expectations are subject to “if we believe in Lula”, in a rather pessimistic outlook regarding the efforts that the government has made in terms of international insertion.
The negotiations, meanwhile, will continue in a “realistic way.” “It will depend a lot on the next international events, (…) not only on the successes or not of President Lula himself who, in matters of international politics, has had something questionableand it will also depend a lot on the leadership that he can show in favor, in this case, of an eventual agreement with China,” Bustillo declared before the senators, referring to the recent friction that Lacalle Pou had with the Brazilian president regarding Nicolas Maduro as president of Venezuela.
Regarding Mercosur, the foreign minister pointed out that the partner countries “do not want anything at all”. “But not only with Uruguay, they do not want anything with anyone, in a case due to the rule of Argentina, in another case by Brazil and in another by Paraguay”, added.
In this sense, he reiterated the call to modernize the regional bloc. “I think the time is coming for there to be a national agreement—or whatever it was—to consider our position regarding this impossibility of advancingno longer with the Trans-Pacific Agreement or with China, but in any matter regarding international insertion”, he declared and opined that “we are being held hostage by other actors who have not shown the slightest interest in moving forward with anyone”.
“They do not have the needs of Uruguay; that is the sad reality. Someday we will have to face this issue and say: ‘Gentlemen, what are we going to do with Mercosur?’. I’m not suggesting that we have to go; perhaps we can change the status of Mercosur. In short, there are all possibilities; It will not correspond to me because they are also decisions that transcend me, but I think that one day we will have to seriously face what is done with this Mercosur “, he concluded.
Source: Ambito
