Pope Francis is scheduled to make his first official visit to Argentina, where he was born, next December ‘to be close to his fellow compatriots’, according to ecclesiastic sources in Buenos Aires. The visit in the first half of December could extend to neighbouring Uruguay and Chile.
On Tuesday Argentina’s Foreign minister Hector Timerman together with representatives from different Latinamerican and Caribbean organizations are scheduled to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to address the “Malvinas Islands question”, according to a release from the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Two of Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica closest ministers, Defence and Foreign Affairs said that the ‘British occupation’ of the Falkland Islands is ‘unacceptable’, represents a NATO base in the South Atlantic and described the recent referendum in the Islands as ‘absurd and ridiculous’.
Uruguay’s central bank surprised the market by keeping on hold the benchmark interest rate at 9.25% after increases at the two previous monetary policy meetings failed to slow inflation, one of the country’s main concerns.
The Economist in its latest edition publishes a piece on Uruguay in which it reveals accurately the dilemma facing the country as a consequence of the legacy of the military dictatorship, 1973/1984 with all the killings, disappeared and tortured.
The economic-trade relations with Argentina are going through ‘their worst moment in a long time’, and the latest measures announced by the government of President Cristina Fernandez have a ‘very harmful effect’ on Uruguay, said Vice-president Danilo Astori on Friday.
Under the heading of: “From crisis to opportunity: supporting an effective economic and social recovery with innovation and flexibility”, the World Bank outstands Uruguay as a success story, from the downfall of 2001/02, mainly consequence of the Argentine melting to the sustained recovery since 2004/05.
The number of cruise-vessel calls in Uruguayan ports has increased 9.3% so far in this 2012/13 season with an influx of 20 million dollars for the local economy revealed Deputy minister of Tourism Antonio Carambula during a primary evaluation of business vis-à-vis the 2011/12 results.
South American countries, as in other times are again attracting migrants looking for work and a place to live, according to a report from the International Organization for Migration, IOM, which states that the US and Canada continue to lead immigrant preferences in the Americas but interest has started to drop.
The Uruguayan economy expanded between 3% and 3.5% last year which is below the 5.7% of 2011, mostly because of a serious drought and a deteriorating world situation, advanced the country’s Central bank president Mario Bergara.