
Brazilian president Lula da Silva will be signing with his Peruvian peer Alan García next week in Lima the creation of an integrated zone in the Amazon.

President elect Jose Pepe Mujica said that Uruguay has a strategic position in the region with a great future and he conceives the country not as a “wedge” but as a “bridge”.

Uruguayan consumer prices in November remained virtually unchanged with a 0.06% increase over October, having accumulated in the last twelve months 6.39% and 5.41% in the eleven months of 2009, according to the latest data released by the Statistics Office.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is to start withdrawing some of its special measures to support the economy. The bank is withdrawing some of its cheap short-term loans designed to boost the amount of money available in the markets and encourage bank lending.

Bolivian president Evo Morales is expected to be easily re-elected on Sunday but is desperately fighting to ensure a two thirds majority in the Senate which would enable him to pass a hundred bills to continue with the political and economic reforms he has pending from his first mandate.

Iran has trebled trade with Latinamerica and Argentina has become its second partner in the region (replacing Mexico) according to Latin Business Chronicle based on data form the International Monetary Fund.

A British government minister has told bankers to come back into the real world after Royal Bank of Scotland directors threatened to resign over bonuses. City Minister Lord Myners said it was unrealistic that bankers should expect to be paid million pound bonuses.

Chile does not want to start an arms race, nor does it have aggressive intentions toward its neighbours.

Brazil has threatened with trade reprisals if Argentina does not lift new restrictions to imports of Brazilian manufactured toys. Trade tensions between the two Mercosur partners and largest economies of South America have soured lately because of what Brazil considers “protectionist” measures and attitudes from Argentina.

Uruguayan president-elect Jose Mujica is scheduled to meet next Tuesday with Brazilian president Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the Mercosur summit to be held in Montevideo, according to diplomatic sources.