Uruguay and Argentina that played the final of the first World Cup in 1930 in Montevideo, announced Wednesday they have jointly launched a bid to host the 2030 World Cup to celebrate the centennial.
Uruguay announced on Tuesday it had recognized a Palestinian state, becoming the latest in a string of Latin American countries to make an endorsement in recent months the United States has called premature.
Although in public former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner was supportive of Uruguay’s negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, members of his cabinet warned the US embassy in Buenos Aires that Argentina would block such an initiative in Mercosur, according to the contents of several Wikileaks cables published in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
Former Uruguayan Industry and Energy Minister, Jorge Lepra (*), described Néstor Kirchner’s government as ”fascist”, during a meeting with the US Embassy Chargé D'Affaires at Uruguay, James Nealon, in February 14, 2006, according to a cable revealed by Wikileaks in which Nealon reported to Washington the minister’s harsh words.
Uruguayan investors have purchased an estimated 1.1 million hectares in the Paraguayan Chaco, (heartland of landlocked Paraguay) in spite of the fact land prices have quadrupled in the last two years. The record year was 2010 with 200.000 hectares.
Rapid growth of emerging economies like China, India and Brazil is boosting the American exports, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said.
Uruguay’s cabinet meeting spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that Argentina had “liberated” 75% of the import licences that remained delayed and which was one of the main points of the agenda in the recent summit between Uruguayan president Jose Mujica and Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan praised the management and achievements of the Uruguayan economy and said it was a pleasure to visit a country that does not have major problems resulting from the 2008 global financial crisis, which is a “recurrent issue” of his busy agenda.
The US skipper Brad Van Liew won his third consecutive leg in the Velux 5 Oceans race on Tuesday evening pulling into Punta del Este, Uruguay, eight days after rounding Cape Horn in his 60-foot Eco 60 Le Pingouin..
Uruguay offers the best business climate out of eleven countries from Latin America according to the latest ratings released by the Brazilian Getulio Vargas Foundation, FGV and IFO from the University of Munich in Germany.