Access to the United States market is vital for Uruguay's recovery, so this country will negotiate bilateral trade agreements with the US and Canada if the Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, initiative does not move ahead.
The British Ministry of Agriculture has declined to comment on newspaper suggestions that Argentina, which exports meat to Britain, could have been the source of the outbreak of foot- and- mouth disease devastating the United Kingdom.
Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile, received 509.869 visitors during 2000, a 14% increase over the previous year.