A delegation of Uruguayan tourism and port authorities together with the country's ambassador in Argentina, Hector Lescano held a meeting in Buenos Aires with their Argentine peers to address bilateral cooperation in boosting the cruise industry on both sides of the River Plate.
Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez will host on Thursday his Argentine peer Mauricio Macri to address several controversial issues from the bilateral agenda which are pending from the twelve years of the Kirchner couple. According to Uruguayan sources they include trade, River Plate channels and navigation, ports and pulp mills among other issues.
Uruguay's next ambassador to Argentina Hector Lescano said that bilateral relations have always been 'cordial', even in difficult times, and there is no doubt that when president-elect Tabare Vazquez takes office, Uruguay's full support to Argentina's claims over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands will be maintained.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica approval plummeted to 39% in July, the lowest since taking office among other reasons for his plan to de-criminalize marihuana and his handling of the controversy with Argentina, according to the latest public opinion poll made public this week.
The loss of competitiveness with Brazil, the strong devaluation of the Argentine peso, the rigorous foreign exchange controls imposed by the government of President Cristina Fernandez and their possible impacts on the coming summer season, is some of the main concerns of the Uruguayan tourism industry.
Uruguay’s Vice president Danilo Astori downplayed the effects of Argentina’s restrictive measures for the purchase of dollars and forecasted an excellent summer season with hundreds of thousands of Argentines tourists visiting Uruguay.
In the last eleven days the Argentine Peso has fallen almost 20% in neighbouring Uruguay where it has sounded alarm bells ahead of the coming season when hundreds of thousands of Argentines flood Uruguayan beaches.
Mercosur tourism ministers agreed to facilitate border crossings for citizens from country members and to draft a homogeneous system for keeping the industry’s statistics, during their XI meeting held in Asuncion, Paraguay.
Uruguay is seriously considering the construction of a harbour for the cruise industry and admits infrastructure is already lacking in many areas for the exponential growth of the tourism industry, which in 2011 could be reaching the targets set out for the five year period 2010/2014.
Uruguay and Argentina will take advantage of the coming 2011 America Cup (Copa América) to promote their joint candidacy to organize soccer’s major event: the 2030 World Cup on occasion of the centenary of the first time the tournament was played.