MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain anticipates “no big news” in pulp mills dispute

Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos cautioned Wednesday that “no big news” can be expected from the first direct dialogue round between Argentina and Uruguay in Madrid regarding the controversy over the construction of a pulp mill in shared waters.

"No big announcements can be expected. This is the first step", said Moratinos during a press conference in Madrid previous to the fifty minutes formal encounter of the two delegations at the seat of the Spanish Foreign Office, Palacio de Santa Cruz. The idea of the current dialogue round was born five months ago following the "facilitating efforts" of the Spanish Crown with the participation of the Spanish Ambassador before United Nations, Jose Antonio Yañez Barnuevo. At today's socializing Uruguay was represented by Foreign Affairs minister Reinaldo Gargano and Cabinet Chief Gonzalo Fernandez and the Argentine side by Secretary Jorge Taiana and Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez. The hosts were Mr. Morantinos and Ambassador Yeñez Barnuevo. Tomorrow Thursday the dialogue officially begins when both sides address the Botnia Orion pulp mill issue, under construction by Finland's Botnia in Fray Bentos on the shared river Uruguay and which the Argentine government and Argentine pickets are questioning alleging legal and environmental reasons. The dialogue will take place 15 kilometers from Madrid at the Palacio de la Quinta del Prado, where former dictator Francisco Franco lived and five minutes from the Zarzuela Palace the official residence of Spain's King Juan Carlos. Argentina is expected to demand the relocation of the Botnia plant arguing that Uruguay ignored the 1975 River Uruguay shared management agreement having unilaterally authorized the Finnish company to construct the plant. Something which does not seem viable since Botnia announced a few weeks ago the plant will begin production next September/October. Uruguay will demand an end to pickets blocking bridges that link Argentina with Uruguay before negotiations begin. This has been the official Uruguayan line all along. Similarly, and having Ambassador Yañez Barnuevo as witness, Uruguay will insist on its proposal to Argentina for a joint monitoring of the plant and surrounding waters once production begins. Pickets in Gualeguaychu, across from Fray Bentos, have become increasingly aggressive and warned of "desperate" and "violent" actions if the plant is not closed down or relocated. Finally there's the company Botnia, with which the Spanish government has had contacts; so far Botnia officials have kept to the original timetable refusing "works suspensions" and much less relocation. An interesting side of this new leg of the controversy is the presence of Argentina's Environment Secretary Romina Piccolotti who had vanished from public exposure since last November following her failure in convincing Botnia to momentarily suspend construction, and the World Bank to cancel funding for the 1.2 billion US dollars project, Uruguay's largest private investment in decades.