Uruguay, willing to advance in a bilateral FTA with Japan

The Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle Pou, affirmed that his country is willing to advance in a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan, beyond the Common Market of the South (Mercosur). He added that his country does not want to “close all the doors” and bets on continuing to trade and increase bilateral relations.

“If tomorrow Japan understands that regardless of whether Mercosur is willing to make bilateral agreements or not, we will be prepared to move forward,” the president declared in Tokyo after recalling that the Asian country is interested in closing a trade agreement with the entire South American block.

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Since his inauguration in March 2020, the president insists that current international law enables Uruguay “to advance in the flexibility” of Mercosur and that his country needs to “open up to the world.”

“We are in a process of opening up to the world because we are aware that Uruguay has that vocation to open its market. Of course we prefer to do it together with the big ones, like Argentina and Brazil, but if this is not possible, and as we already we have begun to do it, we are going to make free trade agreements with all those countries that consider it so,” he said.

The president also reiterated that in November Uruguay will present its letter of adherence to the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty for Trans-Pacific Partnership, (CPTPP for its acronym in English, or TPP11), an initiative that if it goes ahead “will generate another level of relations with partners” and with Japan.

The Uruguayan government has already expressed its interest in joining the CPTPP (made up of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam) to the Japanese Foreign Minister, Hayashi Yoshimasa, in September of last year.

In mid-July, Lacalle Pou also announced that his government had formally begun negotiations with China for an FTA, after a “positive conclusion” of the feasibility study. Lacalle Pou traveled to Japan on October 25 on an official mission to promote trade, accompanied by several members of his cabinet.

With information from Sputnik