Uruguay's Economy Minister Azucena Arbeleche and Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo travelled to Paraguay Friday to discuss with the local administration of President Mario Abdo Benítez new steps towards flexibilities Mercosur's rules.
Uruguay's Foreign Ministry Monday submitted a formal request to the Argentine government to hold a meeting to discuss the flexibility of Mercosur, it was reported.
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.
Uruguay will hand to Argentina next 16 December the pro tempore chair of the South American trade bloc Mercosur. The ceremony as happened six months before with Paraguay will be virtual given the coronavirus pandemic, according to a release from the Uruguayan Executive Office.
Uruguayan foreign minister Francisco Bustillo leaves this week for Spain the first of a round of European countries ahead of the coming Mercosur summit to be held next month, under the presidency of Uruguay. Finalizing the Mercosur/European Union trade agreement is the focus of the trip.
The Argentine president Alberto Fernández made a surprise visit to Uruguay on Thursday to meet his peer Luis Lacalle Pou, with whom they shared a barbecue and according to both leaders addressed bilateral and regional affairs with special emphasis on trade prospects such as the Mercosur/EU trade agreement.
Uruguay’s Foreign Minister, Ernesto Talvi, presented his definitive resignation on Wednesday, according to what he wrote on his Twitter account. In a letter addressed to President Luis Lacalle Pou that he published on the social network, Talvi explained that his intention was to remain in the Foreign Ministry until the end of the year, during the “pro tempore” presidency of Uruguay in Mercosur that the country assumes this week.
The Uruguayan government said on Monday there will be no public statements on the latest “situations” with Argentina, and Uruguay will keep to what was agreed at presidential level during the last (31 July) Mercosur extraordinary meeting in Brasilia.