MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay will retain close relations with Venezuela, “but no ALBA”

Ambassador Luis Almagro, Uruguay’s next Foreign Affairs minister

Uruguay’s next Foreign Affairs minister Ambassador Luis Almagro said that president elect Jose Mujica’s administration will sustain “an important relation” with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez because it is the country’s main supplier of oil and one of ten leading trade partners.

“We are going to give priority to the bilateral relation with Venezuela, give Venezuela the necessary space since there are close political links. But Venezuela is also one of Uruguay’s ten leading trade partners and our main supplier of oil, so these are issues not be brushed aside when designing a foreign policy”, said Almagro who currently figures as Uruguayan ambassador in Beijing.

As to the possibility of Uruguay joining President Chavez brain-child ALBA political and trade block (Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of our America), and which is also included in the ruling coalition’s Broad Front government program, Almagro was cautious and said it would demand “much thinking”.

“Uruguay already belongs to a block (Mercosur) and joining ALBA will be considered. The program of the Broad Front is a target, but actually incorporating is going to demand much thinking and studying. It can’t be decided in a month or two, not even in one year”, he emphasized.

He added that Uruguay “will not be part” of the Bolivarian political axis: Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Anyhow “we can have fluid relations with all these countries as part of our priorities”.

Almagro said that the naming of new ambassadors (professional and political) will be directly linked to their capacities and expertise with the main objective being increasing Uruguay’s trade links and attracting investment.

However the Montevideo press pointed to the irony that the incoming minister will therefore be heading Uruguay’s efforts to ensure the country’s position as a leading exporter of quality, organic beef and lamb, when he is known to be a convinced vegetarian.

Together with president elect Jose Mujica and vice-president Danilo Astori, Almagro met this week with US President Barack Obama’s envoy Arturo Valenzuela on his first tour of Mercosur country members just a few days after been confirmed by the US Senate as Under Secretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs.