MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK/Uruguay joint statement reaffirms strong relationship and commitments

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou at 10 Downing Street

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson MP, and the President of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Dr Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, met on 23 May.

On Tuesday 24 May, the two leaders reaffirmed the strong relationship between the United Kingdom and Uruguay, built on shared values and common interests.

In a joint statement, the two leaders condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, agreed to enhance defense and security cooperation under the framework of UN Peacekeeping Initiative, as well as further cooperation in Antarctica, celebrated the announcement by GSK to open in Uruguay one of its three new regional vaccine distribution centers and UK welcomed Uruguay’s pioneering work to launch a sustainability-linked sovereign bond.

The Leaders reiterate their joint condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and their support for a rules-based international order free from coercion. They commit to enhance cooperation on matters of interest and to develop their trading relationship further. Both leaders reconfirm that action on climate cannot wait and urged all countries to implement the goals of the Glasgow Climate Pact. The Leaders agree to continue working within the Agenda 2030/Decade of Action framework.

Russia/Ukraine

The Prime Minister and President Lacalle Pou uphold the importance of respect for sovereignty and self-determination based on democratic principles and international law, and the need to agree peaceful multilateral solutions to global issues. The Leaders jointly condemn Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Defense

The Prime Minister and President commit to enhance Defense and Security cooperation on matters of mutual interest. The UK will continue to invest in training and educational opportunities for the Uruguayan Armed Forces. Recognizing Uruguay’s leadership, the UK will provide assistance in key areas, to support Uruguay as one of the leading contributors to UN Peacekeeping operations. Both countries will continue working together under the framework of the UN Action for Peacekeeping initiative. Both countries, within the framework of their friendly relationship and humanitarian cooperation, will further develop existing cooperation in the Antarctic.

Trade and Investment

The President and Prime Minister agree on the enormous potential for growth in their trade and economic partnership and celebrate the announcement by GSK to open in Uruguay one of its three new regional vaccine distribution centers. Opening in the next two months, this centre will act as a hub to distribute more than 12 million doses of vaccines per year across six countries of South America.

The President and Prime Minister share an ambition to deepen the trading relationship between our two countries. Minister for International Trade, Ranil Jayawardena, M.P, will meet with Foreign Minister Bustillo and Finance and Economy Minister Arbeleche to discuss opportunities to broaden our collaboration, reduce barriers for businesses, and strengthen multilateral cooperation. These discussions are a starting point for future engagement to develop the trading relationship between the UK and Uruguay. Over the next year, officials and companies will follow up the many commercial opportunities for both countries opened up by this visit, particularly in the transport, financial, technology, energy and agriculture sectors.

Climate

The UK welcomes Uruguay’s pioneering work to launch a sustainability-linked sovereign bond, and encourage Uruguay to explore cross-issuing this bond in London to access the UK’s deep global capital pools.

Both leaders agree that action on climate cannot wait. The Prime Minister welcomes Uruguay’s commitment to climate and nature, and their intention to submit an enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2030 by September this year, according to their national circumstances. The Glasgow Climate Pact, combined with increased ambition across adaptation, finance and mitigation means that the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C remains in sight, but only with concerted and immediate global efforts. Both leaders urge all countries to revisit and strengthen their 2030 emission reduction targets in NDCs as necessary to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022, as well as implementing further goals of the Glasgow Climate Pact.

Both leaders reaffirm their commitment to halting and reversing forest loss by 2030, as committed to in the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use. Both leaders agree on the importance of Part 2 of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity taking place in person in 2022, and both leaders reaffirm their commitment to agreeing an ambitious and effective post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework which should include an objective to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and a significant increase in the mobilization of resources from all sources.