Uruguay

• Saturday, June 30th 2012 - 04:45 UTC

  Unasur suspends Paraguay; names Peru at the group’s pro-tempore presidency

  

  Unasur, Union of South American nations on Friday suspended Paraguay from the group following the ouster of the country's former president, Fernando Lugo. The decision was adopted at an extraordinary meeting in Mendoza, Argentina where earlier in the day Mercosur members adopted a similar measure.

• Saturday, June 30th 2012 - 03:52 UTC

  Mercosur ‘suspended’ Paraguay feels free to establish trade links with other countries

  

  President Federico Franco announced in a press conference that if Paraguay is suspended from Mercosur the country will feel free to look for other trade agreements and international relations.

• Saturday, June 30th 2012 - 03:43 UTC

  Mercosur Secretary General resigns and walks out from the Mendoza summit

  

  Mercosur Secretary General Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes resigned to his post in the midst of the Mendoza summit following a strong exchange with the group of Foreign Ministers, indicated reports from Buenos Aires.

• Friday, June 29th 2012 - 03:00 UTC

  Uruguay’s project for a deepwater port on the Atlantic takes off

  

  Uruguay’s government is going forward with plans to build its first deepwater port along the Atlantic coastline in a place called “La Angostura”, an investment estimated in over 700 million dollars and which it wants to use as a platform to begin exporting iron-ore to China.

• Wednesday, June 27th 2012 - 17:19 UTC

  Uruguay’s fiscal performance exposed to “political limitations”, says S&P report

  

  Risk rating agency Standard & Poor’s praised Uruguay’s fiscal moderation in the last eight years since the budget’s fiscal deficit has been below 2% of GDP but criticized the “political limitations” which impede the achievement of a better performance.

• Tuesday, June 26th 2012 - 01:36 UTC

  Uruguay will not support any kind of economic sanctions on Paraguay

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica rejected on Monday the possibility of applying economic sanctions on Paraguay following on the “parliamentary coup” as was announced by Venezuela which decided to cut the supply of subsidized oil.

• Tuesday, June 26th 2012 - 01:33 UTC

  Mercosur and Unasur leaders to hold a joint discussion next Friday in Mendoza

  

  Chilean president Sebastián Piñera revealed that next Friday during the regular Mercosur summit, the leaders of Unasur member states are scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting to jointly address the political crisis in Paraguay triggered by the removal of President Fernando Lugo.

• Monday, June 25th 2012 - 07:07 UTC

  Wen Jiabao confirms Mercosur interest; Uruguay’s deep sea port blueprints to be sent to Beijing

  

  A memorandum of understanding with Mercosur and a deep sea port to the east of Uruguay were two of the main issues addressed by visiting Chinese PM Wen Jiabao with President Jose Mujica revealed the Executive Deputy Secretary.

• Monday, June 25th 2012 - 06:38 UTC

  Chinese delegation ‘surprised’ Minister Almagro was absent when PM Wen Jiabao visited Uruguay

  

  The Chinese delegation of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao that spent over a day in Uruguay and signed several cooperation agreements felt “disappointed” with the fact that the Foreign Minister was not present during the visit.

• Monday, June 25th 2012 - 06:25 UTC

  Uruguay recommends new presidential elections for the Paraguayan crisis

  

  Uruguay called for strict respect of the Mercosur and Unasur democratic clauses and said the best way out of the current political crisis in Paraguay was to hold presidential elections as soon as possible.