MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Vazquez hints at mill dialogue

Uruguayan President Tabaré Vazquez yesterday said that a warm embrace with his Argentine counterpart Néstor Kirchner in Caracas on Tuesday night was “a sign toward dialogue” between the two countries which are engaged in a bitter spat over the construction of two pulp mills in Uruguay.

Vazquez did not rule out a future meeting with Kirchner to discuss the conflict surrounding the construction of the mills in Fray Bentos, on the bank of the River Uruguay that divides the two countries.

The Uruguayan president added, however, that the pulp conflict was not tackled during the Caracas summit, which formalized Venezuela's entry into the Mercosur South American trade bloc.

"There is a popular demand for us to look into ways of improving our relations", said Vazquez.

Argentina had lodged a complaint against the mills at the World Court based in The Hague, expressing fears that the two mammoth plants by the Finnish consortium Botnia and Spanish firm ENCE would harm the environment.

Reports have indicated that the World Court is likely to rule against Argentina's petition for a 90-day freeze of construction work but at the same time order that Uruguay carry out more sophisticated environmental studies.

The months-long conflict between Argentina and Uruguay peaked during the summer, when Argentine environmentalists blocked roads leading to Uruguay for weeks. Uruguay claimed that it lost 400 million dollars because of the roadblocks.