
Uruguay is concerned that in neighbouring Rio Grande do Sul, one of Brazil’s breadbaskets and famous for livestock breeding, the vaccination campaign against foot and mouth disease remains disturbingly delayed.

One of Spain’s largest bank BBVA is waiting for the final approval from Uruguay’s central bank to disburse 100 million US dollars for the acquisition of France’s Credit (Agricole) Uruguay said Vicente Rodero BBVA director for Latinamerica.

Uruguay’s 2010 harvest of clean, dry rice reached 1.15 million tons with an average yield per hectare of 7.094 kilos. Total area planted was 161.900 hectares according to Uruguay’s Ministry of Agriculture Statistics Office.

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica will meet with Argentina’s Cristina Fernández de Kirchner next June 2nd at the Uruguayan presidential farm in Anchorena, a 15 minutes helicopter ride from Buenos Aires, announced Wednesday Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro.

Consumer inflation in the United States unexpectedly dropped in April for the first time in more than a year. The 0.1 percent fall in the consumer price index was the first decrease since March 2009, figures from the Labor Department showed Wednesday.

“We must help the United States because they are on retreat, and they must manage that retreat”, said Uruguayan president Jose Mujica in an interview with a new Argentine newspaper “Tiempo Argentino” launched last Sunday. This is the first interview of the Uruguayan president to an Argentine daily.

During the first quarter of this year Uruguay beef exports to Russia reached 25.800 tons, which is almost twice more than during the same period of last year.

Uruguay has turned into one of the most optimistic country of the region according to the 2009 Governance Barometer which assesses perceptions and prospects of the population in 21 countries of Latinamerica and the Ibero-America (Spain and Portugal).

Uruguayan president José Mujica will be missing the coming Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit scheduled for next week in Spain on medical grounds, it was reported officially and confirmed by the president.

Uruguay’s government raised its 2010 economic growth forecast and said it will focus on health programs, security and infrastructure to maintain expansion of at least 4% annually, Economy Minister Fernando Lorenzo said.