Uruguay, Venezuela Agree to Boost Bilateral Trade

Foreign ministers of Uruguay and Venezuela agreed Tuesday to boost bilateral trade during a Mercosur trade bloc summit in Tucuman, Argentina.

Uruguayan Foreign Minister Gonzalo Fernandez and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro agreed there was a will for a work meeting to take place soon in Montevideo to deepen bilateral contact, according to a communique.

Both ministers also considered the possibilities for exporting cars from Montevideo to Caracas, and said the manufacture of armored cars for the Venezuelan market could be an option.

Apart from an evaluation of telecommunications policies and information technology, Fernandez and Maduro also discussed possibilities for exporting Uruguayan foods to Venezuela.

The Common Market of the South Summit was delayed for three days due to agenda problems, which media interpreted as a cooling of relations between the two states. The cooling, however, was denied by the Venezuelan diplomatic representation.

Venezuelan ambassador to Uruguay Franklin Gonzalez said that far from cooling, relations between both countries are deepening.

According to Gonzalez, during the first quarter of this year, Uruguay's exports to Venezuela exceeded all of 2007's, while Venezuela sold about 900,000 barrels of oil to Uruguay.

Source: CRIEnglish