This Sunday Brazil will define who will be its president, and in this context, this weekend, Álvaro Delgado, secretary of the Presidency, spoke about how the results of that election could affect Uruguay.
“The turn that it gives or not to foreign policy, and especially to trade policy, can have an impact on Uruguay”Delgado said in the framework of the Expo Salto, reported Telemundo. “Brazil is a competitor and a buyer. The two things is Brazil, it is a monster, ”he indicated.
The neighboring country and Uruguay buy and sell products, mainly agricultural products, but they also compete in the international market.
“We hope that in this (trade policy), regardless of who wins, it will be the same, and we are complementing each other on some things. Brazil buys many products from us, and we also compete in third countries”, he explained.
“Uruguay is played”
The Secretary of the Presidency also spoke of the advances in trade agreements with other countries, and their importance. “Uruguay is playing, the government is playing, the president is playing to be able to advance in free trade agreements, trade agreements or preferential tariffs”he stressed, “because we are paying hundreds of millions of dollars in tariffs,” he said.
In that sense, he spoke about the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China and said that it is “key”, mainly for the agricultural sector, a sector of the economy that is “the main export sector”, because eight out of 10 exports are related to this item, he mentioned.
Delgado highlighted the “spillover” of agriculture, said that this sector “is pushing the national economy” and also spilling into the economy of the interior of the country.
“It is well known that the level of unemployment is lower in the interior than in Montevideo, that has a lot to do with the spillover from agriculture,” he said.
Japan record and news
He also assured that this year Uruguay will reach a record of exports, reaching US$15,000, compared to US$11,000 last year. “The incidence of being able to competitively access markets that buy from us and in which we have to leave many millions of dollars in tariffs, will benefit the entire chain: exporters, industry, producers, society, workers,” he said.
Finally, he reported that the government is discussing the issue of the FTA with China but also a possible trade agreement with Turkey and the possible presentation of the Trans-Pacific Agreement. “At the end of October, the president is going to go to Japan, and we hope to come back with some business news,” he said.
