Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez blamed Argentina's reluctance to end the pickets blocking access to bridges linking with Uruguay as the main reason for the collapse of dialogue and his decision to give the start up authorization for the Botnia pulp mill built along a river shared by the neighboring countries and which Argentina openly objects.
Uruguayan and Argentine officials meeting on Thursday in Chile have agreed to keep disagreeing on the pulp mills dispute, but praised the facilitating efforts of the Spanish King who helped to reestablish dialogue conditions.
Uruguay finally granted the long-awaited start-up permit for Finland's Botnia pulp mill, which Argentina argues will contaminate a shared river. The green light came late Thursday following a last ditch effort to resolve the several years-long diplomatic dispute between the neighboring countries during the Ibero American summit in Santiago, Chile.
Uruguay announced on Friday precautionary security measures in the area surrounding a controversial pulp mill that late Thursday was given the green light to begin production to which Argentina objects, generating a serious diplomatic rift between Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
The consumers' prices index, CPI in Uruguay dropped 0.23% in October pushed down by the significant decrease in urban transport rates and health costs, both government managed prices.
Uruguay's main international sea resort Punta del Este inaugurated on Tuesday the 2007/08 cruise season with the arrival of Grand Voyager and 900 tourists. Local operators and officials are encouraged by what they consider promises to be an exceptional cruise season.
Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez said that the Botnia pulp mill will be authorized to begin production next week, no matter what happens in the coming Ibero-American summit in Chile. The Finnish built plant is at the heart of an acrimonious dispute between Uruguay and Argentina.
Uruguay has ordered the vaccination of 90.000 livestock cattle in the border area with Brazil following an outbreak of bat-transmitted paralytic rabies that killed thirty head of cattle. Sanitary authorities have asked farmers and residents to help locate bat caves on both sides of the open frontier.
Uruguay's meat exports in the first nine months of this year totaled 368.662 tons equivalent to 816 million US dollars, compared to 429.376 tons and 919 million US dollars in the same period a year ago, according to the latest release from the country's National Meat Institute of Uruguay (INAC).
At the request of Spain Uruguay at last moment postponed the effective start-up of a 1.2 billion US dollars Finnish built pulp mill which has been at the heart of an acrimonious two-year controversy with neighboring Argentina.