Brazil wants to promote integration and use of local currencies in a meeting with Uruguay

The Brazilian government aims to promote the use of local currencies in trade with Uruguay, as well as to boost physical and energy integration with that country, a Foreign Ministry source told Sputnik.

“As is known, Brazil is also interested in expanding the use of local currencies in regional trade to reduce our dependence on foreign currency and reduce costs for our operators,” the source said.

He said that during the next meeting of authorities from both countries on Mar. 7, Brazil wants to discuss “strategies to simplify rules, modernize our regulatory frameworks, expand our physical and energy integration, and foster contacts between our authorities in the most diverse areas”.

On Feb. 27, the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry informed that the Uruguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Economy, and the Minister of Transport would travel to Brazil on Mar. 7 to discuss further the issues raised at the meeting held at the end of January between Presidents Luis Lacalle Pou and Lula da Silva.

Lula and Lacalle Pou met in Montevideo to discuss various aspects and seek a rapprochement regarding Uruguay’s intention to negotiate a trade agreement with China outside the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), something opposed by the rest of the bloc, mainly Argentina.

The Brazilian president said on that occasion that his country wants a Mercosur-China trade agreement.

Still, it is necessary to close the one that the bloc has been negotiating for more than 20 years with the European Union (EU).

Previously, the Uruguayan president reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the trade bloc but emphasized that his government wants a Mercosur that is “flexible and open to the world”.

BRAZIL “ALWAYS HAS TOPICS OF INTEREST WITH URUGUAY”

On the other hand, the Foreign Ministry source considered that Brazil “always has issues of interest with Uruguay” and indicated that during the meeting, they would talk about strategies to promote investments.

“We have already made progress with Uruguay in important agreements such as the free trade zone and yerba mate agreements”, he recalled.

He argued that bilateral trade between the two countries “has grown well in recent years,” surpassing pre-COVID-19 levels with a trade flow that in 2022 exceeded US$4.7 billion.”

“But with a significant differential: they are quality exchanges, with a substantial presence of products of industrial origin on both sides, such as products from the automotive sector.”

“Uruguay exports cars to Brazil and attracts investments to its free trade zones to explore the expanded Mercosur (Southern Common Market) market,” he said.

Furthermore, he added that the stock of Brazilian investments in Uruguay more than doubled between 2011 and 2020, exceeding US$5 billion.

With information from Sputnik