Uruguay and Chile seek to give “new strength” to regional integration

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Uruguay and Chile seek to give “a new strength” to regional integration, according to the Andean country’s President, Sebastián Piñera, at the end of his official visit to Uruguay, from where he will leave for Paraguay to conclude his international tour on Tuesday.

“(We have talked about) How to give new strength to integration in Latin America. Both Uruguay and Chile have a great vocation for integration, with Latin America and the world,” said the Chilean head of state in a brief speech to the press after visiting the Uruguayan Parliament.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Uruguay

Piñera recalled that “on the one hand there is the Pacific Alliance (of which Chile is part) and on the other hand there is Mercosur (of which Uruguay is a member)” and that, some time ago, it was agreed “to seek greater integration between these two associations”, which is why he was part of the meeting this Monday with his counterpart, Luis Lacalle Pou.

In the meeting, which the Chilean president described as “fruitful”, they also discussed the post-pandemic economic recovery, which, in his opinion, must be “inclusive” and “sustainable”.

In addition, he said, Piñera invited Uruguay to be part of the “Humboldt Project”. Chile is already working with Argentina and Brazil to develop “a submarine optical cable to link South America with the Asia-Pacific world.”

Along with these issues, the President acknowledged that with Lacalle and the vice-president, Beatriz Argimón, he talked about cybersecurity, gender equality, democratic strength of institutions, and cooperation in the Antarctic continent, where both countries have bases.

“It has been a working meeting between brotherly and friendly countries, which has been very fruitful”, concluded the President, who recalled that Uruguay and Chile will seek, from now on, when there is a relative control over the pandemic, “to recover the freedoms and opportunities for our peoples.”

Precisely, during Piñera’s visit to Uruguay, the Chilean government issued a message from the President putting an end, as of October 1, to the curfew in the country, in force for 19 months due to Covid-19.

Bilateral meetings began early in the morning with a memorandum of understanding between the Chilean Health Minister, Enrique Paris, and the Uruguayan Health Minister, Daniel Salinas.

Organ donation, vaccine nominal registry management, obesity, healthy lifestyle, mental health, cancer, environmental health and toxicology, healthy aging, education for health teams, and Covid-19 were included in the text as subjects of cooperation between the two nations.

After this meeting, Piñera and his two ministers visited the Legislative Palace, before flying to Asunción to complete his tour of several South American countries, which began a few days earlier in Colombia.