MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The Economist IU praises “impressive” Uruguayan economy

Analyst Martin Pickering warned good times don't last forever

The Economist Intelligence Unit praised in Montevideo the achievements of the Uruguayan economy as “really impressive” but also cautioned that good times don't last for ever.

Regional business leaders, bankers, academics and Uruguayan government officials met in Montevideo for a two-day closed door conference on promoting investment under the auspices of The Economist Intelligence Unit. The numbers of the Uruguayan economy are "really impressive" said Martin Pickering senior analyst for The Economist IU who made the official presentation of the event to the Montevideo press. "This is particularly true for the second quarter of this year when the economy registered 13% expansion". Pickering said one of the issues on which discussions would insist is the current trade relation between Uruguay and United States, particularly since bilateral export volumes seem to be slowing. Another speaker of the event Brazil's hydrocarbons corporation Petrobras president Clovis Correa said he would address regional integration because "we don't seem to be neighbors but rather distant countries" and this can be tracked to the heavy bureaucratic mechanisms the process must face. Speakers scheduled at the meeting were Agriculture minister Ernesto Agazzi, Industry and Energy Daniel Martinez and the incoming and outgoing Economy ministers Alvaro Garcia and Danilo Astori. Uruguayan political scientist and Professor at the London School of Economics, Alberto Panizza made the final evaluation of the two day meeting.