At the meeting “Competitive and Sustainable Uruguay”, the President of the Uruguayan nation, Luis Lacalle Pou, spoke about the negotiations to achieve a free trade agreement with China, along with announcing the construction of a new port with Paraguayan investors.
On this last point, from the Uruguayan government they pointed out that “in another order, (the president) announced the construction of a port, of Paraguayan capitals, in the north of Soriano, whose objective is to be the infrastructure that grants direct access to the sea to Paraguay”.
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“Not only do we have natural conditions to offer, but also the respect for laws and contracts that sets us apart from other countries,” said Lacalle Pou.
The Uruguayan president referred to the bureaucracy of the national administration, and argued that the current procedure should be simplified for all those who can export.
Regarding the processes required by the export sector, the president pointed out that “air connectivity and navigability must be improved.” Regarding the latter, he celebrated “having reached 13 meters in dredging in the port of Montevideo, and that it aspires to reach a depth of about 14 meters. It is a substantial advance”.
The Executive also stated that it will be “a before and after” in the port terminal, when the work to be carried out by Terminal Cuenca del Plata, which has already awarded the project, is completed. Likewise, he referred to the “breaking point that will be the concretion of the waterway of the lagoons, a work that the Brazilian government plans to carry out and that will change the situation of the producers in the east of the country.”
FTA
Regarding the treaty that is intended to be reached with China and the actions carried out by the Government, the President of the Uruguayan Republic said that “I grabbed a car that was running, we corrected it in what we thought was wrong, we pushed it in what It was fine, and we intend to sign a free trade agreement with China in the shortest possible time”.
Regarding the different sectors of activity that the agreement will affect, he informed that “the latest generation free trade agreements (FTAs) imply compensatory measures”, and advocated discussing this point.
“There is dialogue with other regional blocs about the possibility of reaching other agreements, and in particular, with the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty of Trans-Pacific Association. Our vocation is to open ourselves to the world”, concluded Lacalle Pou.