MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay, “50 years behind”.

The European Commission delegate in Montevideo highlighted that a successful market access means satisfying European consumers and not insisting with the same fixed supply of goods of the last half century.

Ms. Stella Zervoudaki addressing Uruguayan businessmen said that "Uruguay keeps insisting with the same model of fifty years ago: I want to export what I already have", and stressed that the only way to increase sales to the European Union is "attempting to satisfy the demands of Europeans consumers who prefer packaged or pre-cooked food ready for consumption".

Further on Ms. Zervoudaki argued that Uruguay commits two main mistakes in its trade relations with the EU, and "the first one is ignoring we are your main client and therefore should be received and treated accordingly".

Secondly, when Uruguay sits to discuss trade with the EU it consistently states, "this is Uruguayan beef and this is what I have to export".

Ms. Zervoudaki recalled that 78% of Uruguayan exports to the EU are primary goods and are "exposed to a fierce competition from the poorest countries that usually have priority access to the market".

However the delegate pointed out that the European Commission is funding a project to promote Uruguayan overseas sales, helping local farmers and industrialists "adapt their supply to international market demands".

Even when critical of Uruguayan outdated sales expertise Ms. Zervoudaki admitted that the European Commission also committed mistakes particularly from 1980 to 1992 when the EU savagely dumped its farm stocks to world markets, harming many developing countries that had similar agricultural production.

"Particularly regarding the African market we pinched many clients from Uruguay and some factories in this country were forced to close down. However this will not be repeated", underlined Ms. Zervoudaki.

The European Commission delegate rejected as a "myth" the description of the EU as "protectionist" arguing it's the world's main importer of agriculture produce, "in spite of Mercosur reiterated claims".

"The EU annual agricultural imports total over 107 billion US dollars", indicated Ms. Zervoudaki.