MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay ratifies the construction of pulp mills

Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez ratified the construction of the two paper mills, just across from Argentina and which have caused a growing sour dispute between the neighbouring countries.

"The paper mills represent development, production but also respect for the environment. We don't defend all investments, because business deals to be good don't have to be shady", said President Vazquez during a seminar on development and employment in Montevideo.

Almost at the same time Vazquez was ratifying full support for the major investments, Argentina was making a presentation before the Mercosur Tribunal in Montevideo which has to decide on Uruguay's claims that the blockading last summer of binational bridges by Argentine residents and environmentalists had caused economic damage.

Uruguay insists that the closure of the bridges which link both countries impeded normal trade and more important the influx of Argentine tourists who in summer months flock to the Atlantic beaches.

However for Argentina the claim is "abstract", and besides the administration of President Nestor Kirchner tried unsuccessfully to prevent the blockades by residents from Gualeguaychú, who allege the pulp mills will contaminate the water and air of the shared river environment.

A few weeks ago in a public statement, Argentina's Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana argued that Buenos Aires could not impeach in the right to free expression of Gualeguaychú residents who protested blocking roads and bridges.

Argentina and Uruguay since 1975 share the administration of the border river where the mills are being built. The Kirchner administration argues that Uruguay has ignored the letter and spirit of the joint management agreement by deciding unilaterally the construction of the mills and made a formal complaint before the International Court of The Hague. A first ruling on the suspension of the construction as demanded by Argentina favoured Uruguay, but the heart of the case still has to be decided.

The two pulp mills involved in the dispute are Finland's Botnia which is working at full steam in the construction of the plant and Spain's Ence which has adopted a more low profile attitude trying to ease Argentine complaints. The total direct investment of the mills is estimated in 1.7 billion US dollars, the highest private undertaking ever in Uruguay's recent history.

"We're not defending investments merely because they generate employment but also because they project and advance productive development with respect for the environment", insisted President Vazquez during the seminar.

In related news a delegation of environmentalists from Gualeguaychú announced they would be travelling to Finland to impede the financing of the Botnia pulp mill because it will "cause an irreparable damage to the environment".

According to activist Edgardo Moreira "we've been invited to Finland to make a presentation on the issue and the financing of the plants".

The trip and presentation is sponsored by an Argentine NGO, Human Rights and Environment Studies Centre, Cedha, which will air the case in the Finnish television and press next August 28.