MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's president meets Brazilian executives in São Paulo to open 'new phase' of commercial ties

The meetings, held throughout Tuesday, gathered executives from the mining, logistics, banking, food, tourism, pulp, soybean, pharmaceutical, metallurgical and supermarket sectors

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi made a day trip to São Paulo on Tuesday to meet Brazilian business leaders interested in investing in Uruguay, in an agenda Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin described as an opportunity to “move to a new phase in the levels of commercial development and Brazilian investments” in the South American country. The official delegation included Lubetkin himself, Economy and Finance Minister Gabriel Oddone, Uruguay's ambassador to Brazil Rodolfo Nin Novoa, and the executive director of investment promotion agency Uruguay XXI, Mariana Ferreira.

The meetings, held throughout Tuesday, gathered executives from the mining, logistics, banking, food, tourism, pulp, soybean, pharmaceutical, metallurgical and supermarket sectors. “This is an important group of major Brazilian business leaders who have shown particular interest and willingness to move to a new phase in the levels of commercial development and Brazilian investments in Uruguay,” Lubetkin told Uruguayan media from Brazil. The minister emphasised that the areas addressed “are realistic in the possibility” of greater bilateral commercial engagement, though he cautioned that “this will be a process; we are not talking about something happening overnight.”

The trip took place at the invitation of Brazilian group JHSF, which in March announced a $400 million investment to acquire and expand the Enjoy hotel complex in Punta del Este, transforming it into a comprehensive project featuring hotel, casino, luxury residences, and a shopping centre with exclusive brands not yet operating in the region. The Uruguayan delegation flew to São Paulo on a private aircraft chartered by the host company itself, framing the visit as a business agenda rather than a protocolary one. Orsi and his team returned to Montevideo on the same day.

The visit forms part of a broader sequence of presidential trips aimed at attracting foreign capital. Lubetkin recalled that Orsi held similar meetings with business leaders in Buenos Aires in March — where he addressed some 200 Argentine executives — an official visit to China in February, and a trip to Barcelona, Spain, where he met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The minister said recent investments captured by Uruguay in the tourism and telecommunications sectors exceed $1.2 billion.

Brazilian investment in Uruguay has registered a significant uptick in recent months. In addition to the JHSF group project in Punta del Este, conglomerate MBRF — resulting from the merger of Marfrig and BRF — announced the expansion of its meat processing plant in Tacuarembó. Brazil is Uruguay's main trading partner and, according to data from Uruguay's Central Bank, ranks among the leading countries of origin for foreign direct investment, alongside Argentina and Spain. The Mercosur-European Union agreement, which entered provisionally into force on May 1, has added a fresh incentive for Brazilian companies to explore productive positioning in Uruguay as a gateway to the European market.