Uruguay

• Friday, May 11th 2012 - 23:46 UTC

  President Mujica is welcome at the White House whenever he wishes, says US ambassador

  

  United States ambassador Julissa Reynoso said Uruguayan president Jose Mujica is welcome to the White House whenever he wishes, and revealed that Uruguay is in the short list of countries that soon could be exempted from requiring a visa to travel to the US.

• Thursday, May 10th 2012 - 05:23 UTC

  France’s Total awarded an oil exploration licence offshore Uruguay

  

  France’s Total has been awarded an exploration licence for block 14 offshore Uruguay, following a second bid round staged by state-owned company ANCAP. Confirmation of the award is subject to further approval by Uruguayan authorities.

• Wednesday, May 9th 2012 - 20:56 UTC

  Mercosur “going through its worst moment in history” claims Uruguay

  

  Uruguay’s Vice-president Danilo Astori said Mercosur is going through its worst moment in history because some of its members in practical terms “are denying the most basic principles”.

• Tuesday, May 8th 2012 - 02:06 UTC

  Mercosur “needs to be reborn” with an honest integration spirit, says Cardoso

  

  Brazilian former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso said that Mercosur “needs to be reborn but with a real integration spirit among its members” leaving behind such ambitions as the mirror of the European Union.

• Monday, May 7th 2012 - 04:59 UTC

  Soybeans becomes Uruguay’s main export item, estimated at 1.1bn in 2012

  

  Soybeans are set to establish several records this year in Uruguay: exports will be above one billion dollars; for the first time the oilseed will be the leading export item of the country displacing beef and prospects for the next season are that over a million hectares will be planted.

• Saturday, May 5th 2012 - 06:26 UTC

  Uruguay supports Argentina’s seizure of YPF but countries decide “proceedings”

  

  Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro backed Argentina’s controversial decision to nationalize the country's biggest oil company YPF arguing countries’ right to recover a strategic market is “indisputable”.

• Friday, May 4th 2012 - 06:19 UTC

  Uruguay’s April inflation spikes and remains well above the annual target

  

  Uruguay's annual consumer inflation accelerated in April owing to a big increase in food, clothing and transportation prices, reported the government’s statistics office, INE on Thursday.

• Friday, April 27th 2012 - 23:09 UTC

  Uruguay fish exports increase 20% in volume totalling 236 million dollars in 2011

  

  Uruguay fish exports increased 20% in volume and the average ton price 22%, with Brazil, China and Nigeria as the main markets during the twelve months of 2011, according to a release from the country’s Aquatic Resources Department, Dinara.

• Thursday, April 26th 2012 - 06:10 UTC

  “Land grabbing” and the concentration process in Mercosur members

  

  The processes of concentration, foreign ownership and land degradation came to be a central concern of supranational bodies and NGOs that warn, like the United Nations Organizations for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), of the “negative effects of these phenomena on food security, agricultural employment and the development of family farming.”

• Thursday, April 26th 2012 - 01:38 UTC

  Port of Montevideo invests heavily in infrastructure for the cruise industry

  

  Uruguay has began works in the extension of a pier in the port of Montevideo to cater the cruise industry which should be ready for the next season 2012/13 when the country will also become a hub for the exchange of passengers.