The Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Omar Paganini, He is part of the Uruguayan delegation that participates in the Summit of the Americas that takes place in Los Angeles, United States.
In this framework, Paganini simultaneously held “excellent meetings”, as defined, with high-level executives from Netflix and Amazon, among other contacts that it will maintain with agents from the audiovisual sector and the Hollywood industry. The objective is to deepen the investments of these companies in the production of content in Uruguay and in the generation of specialized jobs, reported the ministry.
In 2021 Uruguay tripled its exports of audiovisual production services cwith a record $84 million compared to the US$ 27 million of the previous year. These were addressed to platforms such as HBO, Sony, Star + and Disney, in addition to Netflix and Amazon, among others. “It is the government’s objective to continue betting on the development of the sector”, affirmed Paganini.
To achieve this, the Uruguay Audiovisual Program (PUA) will continue to be consolidated, which promotes the growth of this industry through a cash rebate system, that is, tax reimbursement to companies that shoot in Uruguay, it was explained.
According to the Ministry of Industry, during the pandemic, the government “strengthened” this program. This allowed Uruguay to be one of the few countries in the world that remained open for audiovisual productions during 2020 and 2021.
In this sense, they highlighted that thanks to the incentives offered by the PUA and to a series of existing conditions in the country, the most important international platforms chose Uruguay to produce, which pIt allowed the generation of highly specialized and high-income jobs, in addition to contributing to the reconversion of various sectors affected by the pandemic. In parallel, the development of national productions was also continued and promoted, reported Industry.
At the beginning of the government, the PUA received a contribution of US$ 4 million per year. The fund was first increased to US$7 million, and then strengthened with another US$5 million, reaching US$12 million executed in 2021.
Just as the sector’s exports tripledthe shooting weeks were multiplied by six compared to 2019. While that year 167 days were reached, in 2020 —in the midst of an international pandemic— the figure rose to 280. By 2021, the figure quadrupled compared to the previous year, with more than 1,000 days.
