MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan president visiting Panama, Cuba and Mexico

Uruguay and Panama signed on Monday several cooperation agreements during the official visit of Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez to the Central American country, the first leg of a tour that will also take him to Cuba and Mexico.

Earlier in the day President Omar Torrijos awarded the visiting leader the country's highest honor, the Omar Torrijos Medal of Merit. The current president's father is considered the "maximum leader of the Panama Revolution" who in 1977 brokered the return from the United States (under President Jimmy Carter), of the Panama Canal. The agreements signed "confirm the long established friendship between our governments and the peoples of Panama and Uruguay", said president Vazquez. "They are the tools for a diplomatic relation that dates long back and we want to see further extended into the future". President Vazquez arrived in Panama on Sunday and together with his host Torrijos went to see a qualifier match for the South Africa 2010 World Cup with Panama defeating the visiting team of El Salvador. He also visited the Panama Canal which is undergoing an important expansion program. Trade between Uruguay and Panama is minimal with the South American country exports totaling almost ten million US dollars (pharmaceutical products and cigarettes) and imports 2.5 million, including fish, iron and steel and radio communications equipments. President Vazquez next visit is to Cuba where he is scheduled to meet his counterpart Raul Castro but not necessarily the ailing leader of the revolution, Fidel Castro. Bilateral trade with Cuba reached 55 million US dollars last year, mostly Uruguayan exports of dairy products, sugar, beef and rice. This year Uruguay has expanded its sales to include processed foods, yeast, several different types of flour and insulin. However the visit must be analyzed from a political point of view given the ample support Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution have among several of the groups belonging to Uruguay's ruling coalition. But Mexico is by far the most important stop since it has become a significant trade partner for Uruguay particularly regarding dairy produce and rice, not currently with soaring prices, but when there was a world glut of these commodities. Last year Uruguay exported to Mexico over 70 million US dollars of cheese, whey, butter, yogurt and other dairy produce, plus rice, beef and grains. Imports from Mexico totaled 50 million US dollars mainly electronics and automobiles both passenger and public transport. The Vazquez administration is determined to increase bilateral trade with Mexico, the region's second economy and a close partner of the Unites States. Uruguay and Mexico also an agreement which favors bilateral trade.