MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay, Argentina only agree on praise to King Juan Carlos

Minister Reinaldo Gargano

Uruguayan and Argentine officials meeting on Thursday in Chile have agreed to keep disagreeing on the pulp mills dispute, but praised the facilitating efforts of the Spanish King who helped to reestablish dialogue conditions.

Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Reinaldo Gargano following a meeting in Santiago with Argentina's Jorge Taiana and Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos discarded the possibility of a presidential vis-à-vis encounter between Tabare Vazquez and Nestor Kirchner as was suggested earlier in the week, but said he was hopeful that the King's facilitating efforts would continue. Neighboring Uruguay and Argentina have been confronted for more than two years over the construction of a pulp mill on the shared border-river Uruguay, which Argentine officials and pickets object on alleged legal and environmental arguments. Argentina has taken the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague which sometime next year should be making a ruling. But since a year ago the Spanish Crown with one of its first line diplomats has been acting as a "dialogue facilitator" trying to find a way out to the acrimonious dispute, which has Uruguay firmly rejecting the potential contamination claims and stating that no negotiations are possible as long as access to bridges linking both countries are blocked by pickets, damaging the country's economy. However Uruguayan diplomacy has established a subtle difference between "dialogue" and negotiations demanded by Argentina thus contributing to Spanish efforts. But October has proved a crucial, and possibly definitive, month for the dispute since presidential elections were held in Argentina and equally significant, the 1.2 billion US dollars Finland's Botnia pulp mill is ready to begin production. In consideration for Argentine elections (October 28) and elected president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, on technical certification grounds the opening of the plant has been so far delayed by Uruguayan authorities in spite of the fact that the CEO and top officials from Botnia arrived in Montevideo from Helsinki. Furthermore this week Uruguayan authorities committed a blooper when in the middle of the announcement of the official opening date of the Botnia plant, on a phone call from Spain's Moratinos cancelled the press conference and the inauguration. The idea long matured was that in early November when the Ibero-American summit in Chile which brings together all Latinamerican leaders and from Spain and Portugal, the two presidents (Vazquez and Kirchner) and King Juan Carlos could make a happy end announcement. However this apparently has been discarded since both sides, President Vazquez and Argentina's cabinet chief Alberto Fernandez have stated from Montevideo and Buenos Aires that the solution of the dispute will come from The Hague. This has meant a crash image-saving operation for the King, who is also politically complicated in Spain and thus both sides have openly thanked his majesty's facilitating efforts and determination which has helped the resumption of dialogue. "We're back in speaking terms with my Uruguayan counterparts, and that is a great advance and we must thank the King for that", said Fernandez. "We would like to see the dialogue facilitating efforts to continue", said Gargano. Nevertheless this did not impede President Kirchner from personally receiving a letter from a delegation of picketers and environmentalists, who specially traveled to Santiago, claiming Uruguay has ignored the joint waterways agreement with Argentina. The letter also calls on King Juan Carlos saying there's still time to prevent the Botnia pulp mill from beginning production. "I will always be next to your cause", was Kirchner's reply to the pickers.