The chancellor Omar Paganini travels on Friday to Buenos Aires to meet his partner Argentina, Diana Mondino, with the objective of continuing to deepen the relationship between both countries as well as advancing with the consolidation of partners in the position of Uruguay to make the Mercosur.
The last few weeks have been key in the diplomatic relationship between Uruguay and Argentina that, since the assumption of Javier Milei Last December in the presidency of the neighboring country, they took a new course with respect to what was happening with the previous administration. The key step for this was the authorization of dredging of 14 meters in the port of Montevideo which began on April 25 and will allow the arrival of larger container ships and bulk carriers—essential for Uruguayan foreign trade—; but also the fact that the libertarian management considers greater political-economic points with the current local government.
In that sense, the economic policy on the other side of Silver river —with devaluation and inflation included— was decisive in stabilizing the situation on this side, in terms of exchange difference and consumption diversion; with a positive first quarter in the commerce and services sector and a coastline that is beginning to recover after a frankly bad 2023.
Against this backdrop, Foreign Minister Paganini travels to Argentina on Friday, to meet with Foreign Minister Diana Mondino with an open agenda on the table, but which has central issues to discuss. One of them will be the upcoming visit of Milei to Uruguay —culminating point of the invitation extended by the president Luis Lacalle Pou in December and which he reiterated on several occasions—to finish consolidating the good relationship between both governments.
Trade, transport and border issues – with the possible signing of a Open Skies Memorandum as the most recent advance—, in addition to the monitoring of other topics already underway such as the works in the Uruguay River and the Waterway, will also be discussed in the diplomatic meeting between foreign ministers.
Mercosur, key in the Uruguay-Argentina relationship
Mercosur is another of the pillar issues that Paganini brings to the meeting with his Argentine counterpart, and it is no coincidence: in July, Uruguay will assume the pro tempore presidency of the bloc and, as the government has already announced, one of the priorities will be to promote regional dialogue with China, with the signature of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as desired horizon.
For this, it is necessary to have partners who support the measures, and Argentina appears as a probable one: on the one hand, because the government of Milei coincides with the agenda of flexibility and extra-bloc trade negotiations, as well as moving forward with greater agreements at the regional level; but, on the other hand, because the neighboring country is not going through a good moment in its relations with the Asian giant – despite being its main trading partner – so a group negotiation could be a good opportunity for rapprochement.
He Mercosur-EU agreement It is also another pending issue that the government will try to address from the presidency of the bloc, and one in which Argentina It is also particularly interested in it finally happening, after more than 20 years of negotiation.
Regarding this, the recent tensions of the libertarian with the president of Spain had worried Pedro Sánchez, which led the Spanish government to withdraw its ambassador from Buenos Aires. However, Paganini maintained that he does not believe that the situation will affect the negotiation at the level of multilateral organizations, nor that the exchange will go from “outbursts from one direction to another.”
Source: Ambito
