MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay's president meets Kicillof and agrees to cooperate on food and scientific research

Kicillof, governor since 2019 and a former economy minister, described the meeting as an opportunity to hear the Uruguayan leader's reading of the international situation

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi on Friday received the governor of Argentina's Buenos Aires province, Axel Kicillof, at the Torre Ejecutiva in Montevideo, where the two signed two cooperation agreements covering agrifood and scientific matters.

The first links Uruguay's Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, its Buenos Aires provincial counterpart and the Metropolitan Agrifood Unit, the wholesale food market supplying greater Montevideo. It provides for exchanges of information on production methods, training and certification, support for family-run operations and small businesses, and joint policies to reduce food loss and waste at wholesale markets.

“It concerns the UAM, which would be like the Mercado Central in Argentine terms,” Kicillof told a press conference, referring to the Buenos Aires wholesale market. “In Buenos Aires we do similar work,” he added, noting that both jurisdictions share a farming and food production profile.

The second agreement was signed between the Scientific Research Commission of Buenos Aires province and the University of the Republic, Uruguay's main public university, with the aim of strengthening institutions linked to research, science and innovation. The governor attributed the initiative to what he described as the defunding of the scientific sector by Javier Milei's government.

It is not the first understanding between the two jurisdictions. The province has cooperation agreements already in operation with the Montevideo city government, signed in previous years.

Kicillof, governor since 2019 and a former economy minister, described the meeting as an opportunity to hear the Uruguayan leader's reading of the international situation. “The president has international contacts, he has been talking to presidents in the region and was able to give us an overview of the situation and his view,” he said.

The governor used his visit to Montevideo to criticise the Argentine government's foreign policy, and in particular Milei's participation in a campaign event for Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro on July 25. He said the president's conduct “was not good for Argentina” and had led to a situation of diplomatic fragility. Brazil downgraded relations with Buenos Aires to chargé d'affaires level on August 4, following Milei's insults directed at Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The Argentine government did not respond to the governor's remarks.

The visit coincided with the third Pan-American Congress, a forum of progressive forces held in Montevideo from Friday to Sunday with more than 150 participants from fifteen countries, according to organisers. Kicillof spoke at the opening event at the Teatro Solís, which also featured former Chilean president Gabriel Boric and US and Brazilian lawmakers.