Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa called on Mercosur to overcome hollow rhetoric and advance towards the elimination of barriers which restrict access to other markets and intra-region trade.
Private consultants forecast the Uruguayan economy will expand 2.5% in 2015, compared to 3.5% the previous year, but recommend a strong moderation in government spending to retake the path of sustained growth and contain the consequences of an adverse international scenario mostly recessive.
Mercosur is being left out of the main global trade flows since it only belongs to 1% of free trade treaties or tariff preference agreements, which actually represent half of world trade, said Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa during a conference on Education and regional integration.
Uruguay has expressed an interest in actively participating in negotiations to liberalize trade in services in the framework of TISA, Trade in Services Agreement which recently held its seventh round of talks in Geneva.