MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IDB President sees a plethora of opportunities ahead in Uruguay

Punta del Este could be “the new digital hub,” said Claver-Carone

“Uruguay could be a Silicon Valley of the south”, said Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Mauricio Claver-Carone Wednesday after meeting in Montevideo with President Luis Lacalle Pou.

“Uruguay is positioned like no other country in the region in terms of investment and being a digital hub for the region,” said Claver-Carone at a press conference at Torre Ejecutiva, where he evoked the area in California where large technology companies are based, as he mentioned Punta del Este could be “the new digital hub.”

“One of the things that we are seeing and for which I am so interested and Uruguay is a leader in this digital transformation is that 2021 was the record year for investments in the region, particularly in the digital sector,” he added.

The IDB is also reported to be “extremely interested” in Uruguay's National Vaccine Institute. The bank could “invest in an infrastructure to generate vaccines regionally, and Uruguay could be a leader.”

“Uruguay is one of the countries with the most solid, political stability, and that gives it a great advantage,” he stressed about the country in the region. “We have a great opportunity in Uruguay to work together to be able to encourage these investments,” he said.

Claver-Carone also admitted his talks with Lacalle Pou encompassed “frankly everything; from issues of water and sanitation, transportation, digital infrastructure.... I think the president's vision in that sense is comprehensive, holistic.“

“There is a migration to Uruguay, which is a seal of confidence in the country, and we want to pass that same seal on to investors in that sense. We have the space to take care of Uruguay in the public part. We have almost US $ 1.5 billion, and we have another US $ 500 million from our private arm,” he added.

”We did US $ 100 million in new digital businesses to the region, and the whole issue is the future, and it is the window to enter the 21st century investments in the region,” Claver-Carone said.