A Confucius Institute recently opened in Uruguay's capital Montevideo, fulfilling a dream for promoters of Chinese culture and locals keen to learn more about China. The institute, a worldwide network that offers a window to Chinese culture through Mandarin (standard Chinese) language classes and other types of courses, opened in April, thanks to an agreement between Uruguay's University of the Republic (Udelar) and Qingdao University in eastern China's Shandong Province.
After several days up in Argentina, the devaluation of the Argentine peso and the rise of the US dollar have had some impact on the other side of the River Plate, where the exchange houses of downtown Montevideo marked on Wednesday the value of the currency up to 31,70 Uruguayan pesos per dollar, a rise of 2.08% compared to Monday —the highest in five years—. For the Uruguayan government, the country follows the global trend and calls for calm, beyond the noise generated in Argentina, which is beginning a dialogue between the Finance Minister, Nicolás Dujovne, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.
The plenary of the leftist coalition Broad Front concluded on Sunday with a motion that postergates de decision over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Chile, defining to leave the decision on whether or not to support the agreement, delaying the debate to a future plenary whose date is not yet defined. The decision was voted after counting an erroneous sum of the votes in the first instance in which the motion to debate the issue in the plenary had won. However, the votes of the Communist Party of Uruguay (PCU) had been put on the wrong side.
An overall increase in production numbers and quality at Falkland Landholdings was reported by General Manager Andrew Pollard at the FLH Board meeting on March 27. Mr. Pollard in early April also attended the World Merino Conference held in Montevideo, an excellent opportunity to meet Uruguayan customers of Falklands' wool, sheep farmers from other countries and Peter Ackroyd, President of the International Wool Textile Organization, IWTO.
Brazilian investigators conducted one of their largest operations against graft ever on Thursday, targeting a money laundering ring linked to powerful politicians and businessmen that moved some US$1.6 billion through offshore accounts in 52 countries.
Due to the recent devastating drought, soybean production in Uruguay is forecast to drop to 1.7 million tons in 2017-18, according to an April 30 Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
While Chilean President Sebastián Piñera started a commercial tour in Brazil last Thursday, in which he avoids Uruguay because the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Chile is blocked in the Uruguayan Parliament since 2016, ex-president José Mujica explained that he supports the FTA with Chile in order to look for “the best incentives to ensure commercial stability.” The bench of former president Mujica and the communist party refuse to approve the commercial agreement.
Two instructors from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst gave a course on counterterrorism from 9-13 April at the Uruguayan Naval War College in Montevideo. The purpose of the course was to provide an introduction to the key principles of the fight against terorrism and its practical application through the British approach and the study of a wide range of contemporary cases.
Washington’s request that other countries also expel Russian diplomats is improper, Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said. “I did not take this request well, I said it was improper and it should not have been made,” the top diplomat said as cited by the El Pais newspaper.
Starbucks has opened with great success its first store in Uruguay at the Montevideo Shopping mall in the capital city Montevideo. The store has a unique design and offers a wide range of Starbucks beverages and food, including Starbucks 100% arabica coffees from Latin America and around the world.