MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay presents in The Hague documents on Botnia dispute

Botnia plant in Uruguay

Uruguay will be complying Monday with its final written presentation in The Hague on the Botnia pulp mill construction dispute with Argentina that alleges Uruguay ignored water joint management agreements.

water joint management agreements. Finland's Botnia built a huge pulp mill complex (1.2 billion US dollars) on the Uruguayan side of the River Uruguay which acts as a natural border with neighboring Argentina but Buenos Aires authorities claim they were not consulted on the project and besides the mill allegedly pollute the surrounding water and air. In four or five months each side will make oral presentations and a ruling from the International Court in The Hague can be expected sometime in late 2009, possibly October according to Uruguayan diplomatic sources. Uruguay's representative before the International Court of The Hague, Hector Gross Espiell said that there's ample evidence to show Uruguay did not violate the river joint management agreement; that Argentina was informed on time about the project and that in the eight months since Botnia has been in production there has been no pollution incident of any kind. Uruguay's document is a reply to Argentina's 500 page replica to the original statement of July 20/2007. "The document includes much doctrine and several environmental reports, both from Uruguayan offices and from independent consultants belonging to international organizations", said Gross Espiel. Only a few weeks ago a report from Canada's Ecometrix concluded that the Botnia plant did not modify the air or water qualities in the river Uruguay during the first six months of operations. Argentine independent experts also arrived to similar conclusions. The presentation includes a paper on the current situation of the conflict, particularly the pickets which have blocked for over two years the International bridge linking Uruguay with Argentina next to the Botnia plant. "I won't comment on this aspect but I can say we feel optimistic about the final outcome. I'm most satisfied with the solid arguments presented by Uruguay", said Gross Espiel. According to the latest release from Botnia, the plant has produced 597.503 tons of pulp since November 2007. Daily production ranges between 2.6 and 2.800 tons with an annual potential of a million tons. Twenty six vessels have loaded Botnia's pulp for Europe and China. Botnia has a workforce of 3.400 ranging from the forest to the plant, of which only 20 are foreigners