MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan President to insist on a more flexible Mercosur in his last full year

With Milei “we will talk as soon as we can,” Lacalle said

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou said on Friday during the inauguration of an intensive care unit in the department (province) of Cerro Largo that “we shall insist on Mercosur to get out of this corset and to be able to connect with the rest of the world.”

 For the sitting head of state, 2024 will be his last full year in office. Hence, his government will seek to “finish” or “accelerate” pending issues such as making the South American Common Market more flexible.

The National Party leader also admitted he has to review “some issues with the new Argentine government” regarding “logistics” and “navigation.” With Argentine President Javier Milei “we will talk as soon as we can,” Lacalle also explained.

Lacalle Pou also said his administration would focus on housing initiatives such as the “Plan Avanzar” and “Plan Juntos” programs while “some international issues” such as a second bridge over the Yaguarón River connecting the towns of Yaguarón and Río Branco and the dredging of the waterway between the two countries will also be on the agenda. The Uruguayan President discussed these matters with his Brazilian colleague Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva in Montevideo last January.

The new ICU unit at the Cerro Largo departmental hospital will include six beds, two of them suitable for isolation for patients with respiratory problems. Cerro Largo only had similar equipment at private clinics. The public hospital currently serves 56,000 patients. Other technological improvements for other healthcare facilities in the eastern region are scheduled for 2024, the president also announced. The new unit also generated 60 jobs for healthcare practitioners.