The President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, traveled overseas for the first time to meet with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in a meeting in which they discussed the idea of making Mercosur more flexible and the possibility of a face-to-face summit with the leaders of Argentina and Paraguay at the end of March.
Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou will be flying to Brasilia on Wednesday to share an informal lunch with his peer Jair Bolsonaro, his first overseas trip since taking office, but also a clear balancing act of the country's foreign policy regarding its two huge neighbors.
Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou announced on Wednesday the partial lifting of the borders' total closure which had been established last December 20, but all other measures that had been announced on that date remain in full compliance.
China and New Zealand signed the upgrading protocol of their free trade agreement (FTA) via video link on Tuesday with new commitments in trade market entry, investment, and other key aspects.
Fitch Ratings forecasts Latin American economies will rebound this year from the 2020 recession but risks remain in particular because of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Norwegian oil and gas exploration seismic data company PGS has signed an agreement with Uruguay's state oil company ANCAP to reprocess over 11 000 km of existing 2D lines of various vintages, applying the latest seismic imaging techniques.
Portugal which last week took the rotating presidency of the European Union for six months as of January 1st, said that it will try to conclude the bloc’s free trade agreement with Mercosur, agreed in 2019 after two decades of negotiations that have not yet been finalized.
Analysis by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS / USDA) point out that the country has US$ 4 billion in agricultural exports that may be affected to some extent by the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. The agreement has yet to be ratified by national parliaments.
Brazil has reduced import taxes and tariffs to zero for products used to combat Covid-19, including syringes and needles classified under codes 9018.31.11, 9018.31.19, 9018.31.90, 9018.32.19, and 9018.39.10 of the Mercosur Common Nomenclature. The products are included in the list of temporary tariff reductions covered by Gecex (Executive Management Committee of the Chamber of Foreign Trade), Resolution 17, from 17 March 2020.
Uruguay announced on Wednesday a raft of new measures to help contain the growing number of Covid-19 positive cases which if sustained could strain hospital and sanitary capacities.