Calling tobacco use the deadliest global pandemic ever, Uruguay’s former President Tabaré Vázquez urged decision makers to step up efforts to curb smoking in Latin America and the Caribbean.
On Saturday June 1st the President of Uruguay, José Mujica, will meet Pope Francis. Mujica has been quoted as saying he does not believe in the Catholic Church but he admires it and that he hopes to open avenues of cooperation to advance on social issues in his country.
On Tuesday Uruguayan President Jose Mujica said that the policy of integrating the economies of Asia and his country is a necessary “strategy for the future.”
The Uruguayan offshore platform continues to advance its global positioning and increase its economic value as the Irish firm Tullow Oil, which is currently conducting exploration work in Block 15 of the Uruguayan offshore platform, sold 30% of its stake in its exploration contract to leading Japanese oil company Inpex.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica currently in Beijing on an official visit, underlined the significance of China in trade and investments fro South America, but also admitted there is some ‘fear’ mainly from Argentina and Brazil about a greater integration and dependency from the Asian giant.
Mercosur must negotiate any possible incorporation to the Alliance of the Pacific “as a block” since it is important that its member countries remain ‘united’ and respect the current charter, said the Mercosur High Representative, Ambassador Ivan Ramalho from Brazil.
The Argentine ambassador to Uruguay, Dante Dovena, assured that authorities are “working intensely” in preparations for the next Mercosur summit scheduled to take place on June 28th in Montevideo. However news form Paraguay doesn’t indicate the same optimism and are demanding respect for ‘the country’s dignity and rule of the law”.
Continuing with the so called ‘dollar clamp’ Argentine institutions issuing credit cards will further limit the extraction of dollars from automatic cashiers: travellers to neighbouring countries will only be allowed 100 dollars every three months and those visiting non neighbouring countries, 800 dollars per month.
The investment in the construction industry in Uruguay soared 26.45% last year over 2011 and reached seven billion dollars, of which 40% correspond to the Brazilian-Chilean pulp mill, Montes del Plata, the country’s largest investment in years equivalent to 2 billion dollars. However there are storm clouds ahead.
Uruguayan President Jose Mujica begins on Wednesday the longest and most ambitious of his overseas trips hoping to convince China to invest in infrastructure projects that are crucial for the development of the country and its foreign trade: a deep water port and recovering the rail cargo network.