MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Foreign Office minister Swire will visit Uruguay on Wednesday 12 March

The minister will be meeting with acting president, vice-president Danilo Astori. President Mujica will be in Chile

Hugo Swire MP, FCO Minister for Latin America, will be visiting Uruguay on Wednesday 12 March where he is scheduled to hold several political and trade meetings. The minister will be returning from Santiago de Chile where he will attend the inauguration ceremony of Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.

 According to the Foreign Office release Minister Swire will be holding a bilateral meeting with Uruguayan foreign minister Luis Almagro while they are both in Chile. Uruguayan president Jose Mujica will also be attending the taking office ceremony of the incoming Chilean president.

In Montevideo Minister Swire will be meeting members of President Mujica’s administration, including acting president Vice-President Danilo Astori and authorities from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He will also meet Minister for Energy, Industries and Minerals, Roberto Kreimerman, key businessmen from the oil and gas sector as well as other business people, with the aim of developing further the trade and investment links between the UK and Uruguay.

A visit to Parliament to meet with the Foreign Affairs committees of both Houses is also expected to take place.

In the evening, Minister Swire will attend a reception to be held at Ambassador Ben Lyster-Binns Residence, where PricewaterhouseCoopers will introduce a preliminary presentation of a report about “Commercial opportunities between Uruguay and the UK”.

At the event, the Minister will have the chance to meet members of the Uruguayan-British Chamber of Commerce and Chevening scholars.

Minister Swire said he was looking forward to his visit to Uruguay, ”one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America, and to continue working closely on a number of shared priorities in the future”.

Last month Minister Swire toured the Falkland Islands where he met with a visiting party of four Uruguayan lawmakers, who spent a week in the Islands as special guests of the Falklands Legislative Assembly.