MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay will seek to join Trans-Pacific Partnership; Lacalle announces

The President also admitted that Uruguayan exports needed improvements in air connectivity and navigability

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou Tuesday announced his administration would seek to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in its current form and that, to that end, he will seek endorsement from all political parties.

“Uruguay is going to ask for accession. It is a decision that the member countries have to analyze and we will see how we negotiate it,” said Lacalle Pou during his Exporters' Day celebration speech.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was originally a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States signed on 4 February 2016. But under then-President Donald Trump, the United States withdrew from the alliance, after which the remaining countries negotiated a new deal called Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which entered into force on Dec. 30, 2018.

The idea of including Uruguay in the TTP stemmed from the Colorado Party in September of 2021 and Lacalle Pou welcomed it. “It is a very good idea because joining a treaty is much simpler. It will surely be on the table,” he said at the time.

Lacalle Tuesday attended the Export Day celebrations hosted by the Uruguayan Exporters Union (UEU) and Banco República (BROU). During his message, he also reviewed the government's challenges in logistics and opening the country to the world. He said that the free trade agreement (FTA) with China is an initiative that comes from before and that the Government promoted, and announced the TPP initiative.

Speaking at the Golf Club, Lacalle highlighted the Exporters Union's work and welcomed the fact that all political parties have signed a declaration committing themselves to a State policy towards exports, which are, in the President's view, “the last stage of local economic activity.”

Lacalle also admitted that the negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement had been started by the administration before his, headed by Tabaré Vázquez of the opposition Broad Front. “I grabbed a cart that was running, we corrected it in what we thought was wrong, we pushed it in what was right, and we intend in the shortest possible time to sign a free trade agreement with China,” Lacalle stressed.

The President also admitted that Uruguayan exports needed improvements in air connectivity and navigability, and hailed having reached 13 meters of dredging in the port of Montevideo.

Lacalle also announced the construction of a port north of Soriano, financed by Paraguayan capitals, to grant Paraguay direct access to the sea.