MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay/Argentina ready for next diplomatic clash

Chile's Foreign Affairs minister Alejandro Foxley said that former president Nestor Kirchner remains the leading candidate to become Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, although admitting a consensus must be reached among country members.

"The candidacy of former president Kirchner stands and there will be a chance for at the meeting in Salvador, Bahía for Unasur presidents to talk about the issue and make an effort to reach a consensus", said Foxley at a press conference in Santiago de Chile. Mr. Foxley was expressing Chile's wish that the presidents of Unasur meet to name Unasur Secretary General during the first Latinamerican and Caribbean summit scheduled to take place in Bahia, in mid December. However the Uruguayan government has already vetoed Mr. Kirchner's name and has anticipated it would do so again, because of the ongoing conflict between the neighbouring countries regarding the construction of pulp mills along the shared border river. Uruguay's veto is based on Kirchner's support for the pickets that now for over two years have been blocking internationals bridges linking both countries thus distorting trade, traffic and the movement of people. Pickets are protesting the construction of the Finnish Botnia pulp mill alleging environmental reasons, so far unsupported. However that is not the only controversy between Uruguay and Argentina. Argentine authorities are reluctant to dredge the River Plate Martin Garcia access channel, which must be jointly agreed between both countries that share the huge estuary. Delay in dredging threatens several major investment projects along the Uruguayan coast. Uruguay also favours free trade and open markets. Alleging the current global crisis Argentina has proposed raising tariffs in the framework of Mercosur, which was rejected by Uruguay. Brazil and Argentina also impeded Uruguay from signing a free trade agreement with United States, similar to one with Mexico. The situation is increasingly serious because Uruguay's Foreign Affairs minister Gonzalo Fernandez, and possibly President Tabare Vazquez closest advisor, has presented his resignation as a consequence of differences regarding official policy towards Argentina. Chile is currently the pro tempore president of Unasur, made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.