MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan president in Spain

Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle arrived Sunday in Spain on his first official visit to the country during which he will press for investment and promote closer bilateral relations, officials said in Montevideo.

On his first day in the Spanish capital, President Batlle and his delegation visited the Uruguay stand at a major tourism trade fair and alter met with Uruguayans residing in Spain, a controversial issue in the bilateral relations.

According to preliminary numbers in 2002 and 2003 over 39,000 Uruguayans immigrated to Spain many of them descendents of former Spanish emigrants to Uruguay decades ago. But the legal situation of many of the newly arrived Uruguayans is uncertain and quiet a few have been taken to court.

"We know this is not the moment for a new bilateral agreement. Spain has told us, but we believe the best negotiation tool is to insist with the 1870 agreement that gives Uruguay a privileged nation situation and this is being recognized by Spanish courts", said Raul Pollak head of the Political Affairs Department of the Uruguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This Monday president Batlle will be received in a private audience by King Juan Carlos and later in the day will hold a meeting with outgoing President Jose Aznar. Spain is holding elections next March 14.

Tuesday President Batlle will open and be the main speaker at a forum that will analyze "Mercosur prospects for 2004", organized by the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations, the main private business institution of the country.

Later in the week the Uruguayan president is scheduled to meet other political and Parliamentary leaders. Another important leg of the visit will be when Mr. Batlle visits Galicia, in the northwest of Spain and from where most of Spanish immigration to Uruguay came in the second half of the XIX and first half of the XX century. The region has become an industrial pole besides being the main fishing region of Europe. Actually Galicia actively promotes and facilitates the return of descendents of Galician immigrants Mr. Batlle is also scheduled to visit Barcelona in Catalonia for meetings with the regional president, Pasqual Maragall. Before returning home next Saturday, Mr. Batlle plans a visit to the Catalonian seaside resort of Sitges from where his ancestors immigrated to South America in the early 1800.