MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US/Uruguay free trade accord, among priorities of new ambassador in Montevideo

Ms Reynoso, attorney by trade, practiced international law before joining the State Department

The new US ambassador in Uruguay, confirmed this week by the US Senate, expects to hold contacts with Uruguayan authorities to promote and negotiate a free trade agreement.

During hearings for her confirmation in the US Congress, Dominican Republic born Ms Reynoso underlined that there was a favourable climate in Uruguay and good relations with the administration of President Obama to increase bilateral trade, which already is ‘significant’.

With Uruguay “we share important values, including the commitment with democracy, the rule of the law and respect for contracts, economic policies, defence of the environment and the peaceful resolution of controversies among countries plus the commitment with the multilateral system” said now ambassador Reynoso before the US congress.

According to the State Department web, Ms Reynoso became Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central America and the Caribbean in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the Department of State on November 16, 2009.

She is an attorney by trade and, prior to joining the U.S. State Department, practiced law at the international law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York, focusing on international arbitration and antitrust law. She was also a fellow at New York University School of Law and Columbia Law School.

In 2006, Ms. Reynoso served as Deputy Director of the Office of Accountability at the New York City Department of Education. She has published widely in both Spanish and English on a range of issues including regulatory reform, community organizing, housing reform, immigration policy, and Latin American politics for both popular press and academic journals.

Ms. Reynoso holds a B.A. in Government from Harvard University, a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge in the U.K., and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain. Ms. Reynoso is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.