The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, arrives today on an official visit to Uruguay. The meeting with President Lacalle Pou is from 5:00 pm in the Executive Tower offices. On the occasion, some Ecuadorian ministers who make up the ministerial cabinet will be part of the event.
Although sources from the Presidency confirmed the meeting, they did not specify the issues that the leaders will address at the meeting, although the Ecuadorian president comes with an agenda that proposes creating “a large free trade area” in Latin America to be able to negotiate with other regions of the world in a “more powerful” way.
It should be remembered that when the president of Ecuador assumed the presidency, Lacalle Pou could not attend the event because it precisely coincided with the death of Jorge Larrañaga, former Minister of the Interior of the current government.
According to what was reported by the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, “Guillermo Lasso will hold a meeting with President Luis Lacalle Pou, which will aim to promote the exchange of experiences in risk management, natural disasters, the fight against child malnutrition, promotion of MiPymes, transparency and fight against corruption. Trade and bilateral cooperation issues will also be reviewed.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs adds that “the presidential event includes a meeting at the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi) to promote international relations at all levels and strengthen ties with Ecuador’s traditional partners. Both during his visit to Argentina and during his stay in Uruguay, the Ecuadorian president and his delegation will hold meetings with businessmen to promote trade and investment in the country”.
The Ecuadorian delegation that accompanies the president is made up of the Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Holguín; and the Ministers of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, Julio José Prado; and Telecommunications and Information Society, Vianna Maino.
regional fraternity
The members of the Ecuadorian government arrived in Buenos Aires this Sunday the 17th, and yesterday Lasso met with the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández.
After the meeting Fernández said «I proposed to Lasso that together, two presidents who do not think exactly alike, we can propose to all of Latin America and the Caribbean today to start a program of fraternity that allows us all to once again achieve the full ties that, by empire of the times that preceded us, they were breaking and breaking and that we need to recover again».
Lasso recalled that last year he proposed to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to adopt “a practical vision by which, if you want to emulate the European Union (EU), a large free trade area should be created to be able to negotiate with other places in the world in a more powerful way. He stressed that “we have agreed that CELAC can serve as a platform to rebuild that unity of Latin America and the Caribbean so that we know how to manage our differences in an environment of dialogue that is conducive to the prosperity of our peoples.”
And he added: “We have talked about democracy and how important it is to defend those principles, even when the consequences of that defense are not convenient for us, and we believe in the independence of Justice as well, as well as in the human rights of the entire society. ”.
A staunch opponent of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Lasso stated in an interview with the newspaper La Nación that he will present a motion to condemn the invasion at the next meeting of CELAC, which is chaired by Argentina, “although it is not certain that it will succeed.” ”, due to the presence there of allies of Moscow such as Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba.
Fernández, president pro tempore of CELAC, made a proposal to his counterpart to launch a call, despite the difference of thoughts.
“That together we can propose to all of Latin America and the Caribbean to start a program of fraternity, which allows us to achieve full ties, which due to the empire of the times that preceded us, were broken. And that today we definitely need to recover again”, said the Argentine president.
In this context, he stressed that his country wants to recover its full diplomatic ties with the country governed by Nicolás Maduro. In his opinion, after the agreements with the Contact Group, that country has advanced in terms of electoral processes. He advocated to help its normal functioning as a country, “we will not achieve it if we leave it alone, without ambassadors and without our attention.” In addition, Fernández thanked the support of the Government of Ecuador for the sovereign rights of Argentina in the Question of the Malvinas Islands.
