The Secretary of the Presidency will visit the Asian country as part of a Xi Jinping event, prior to the head of state’s trip in November.
The secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, confirmed that he will travel to China in October with the aim of preparing the visit of the president Luis Lacalle Pou in November, in which the government will seek to continue bringing positions closer together Uruguay and the Asian country, although the expectations of being able to sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) They are getting smaller.
According to Slim, your visit to China will be framed in an event of the president Xi Jinping and will also seek to begin preparing the ground for Lacalle Pou’s trip, at a time when the agro-export sectors – and also the authorities – are concerned about how the Asian country continues to fall on the list of placements Uruguayans, with meat prices that do not rebound either.
“We are going to have instances with the Chinese government to be able to move forward with the possibility of continue opening markets for some products that are still in the process with protocols to be approved, and obviously take one more step towards a schedule that is very important for us, which is the Free Trade Agreement,” said the secretary.
Negotiations with the European Union
Delgado also referred to the extensive negotiations that the Mercosur carries with European Union (EU), and assured that “we are already in the final issue, to be defined by yes or no.”
In that sense, a few days ago, the president of Paraguay Santiago Pena issued an ultimatum to the European bloc and assured that if the Mercosur-EU agreement Before December 6, the South American region will withdraw and begin negotiating with Asian countries. This position had not been previously advanced, at least, with Uruguay.
In this regard, the Secretary of the Presidency stressed that “Uruguay “He is ready to sign the treaty with the European Union at any time and is ready to do so.”
“President Lacalle Pou is insisting a lot that in this semester, with the Spanish presidency -of the EU-, it is a special impulse to be able to signand a lot of emphasis was placed on internal Mercosur so that the president Lula lead that process. Hopefully it can be achieved, we are hopeful about that. Uruguay does not wait for the float”, he added, in reference to the different opening initiatives promoted by the government.
Likewise, he assured that “we are going to continue insisting on generating tariff preference optionsfree trade agreements, everything that has to do with commercial opportunities that generate investment and employment in Uruguay”.
Source: Ambito
