Argentine Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra told members of the media on Friday that bilateral relations with Uruguay “returned to normality” following a meeting between President Mauricio Macri and his Uruguayan counterpart Tabare Vazquez.
“It was a very cordial meeting that had concrete results,” Malcorra said in an interview with Mitre radio station.
Malcorra highlighted many of agreements signed during the high-level discussions between the two leaders, including an environmental cooperation accord by which both nations agreed to work together to build a new lab that is to monitor pollution levels in their shared rivers.
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Meanwhile, Malcorra’s Uruguayan counterpart, Rodolfo Nin Novoa, credited both sides for working together to overcome differences particularly in the area of trade asymmetries among the Common Market of the South, Mercosur member countries.
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“I want to highlight the climate in which this meeting was carried out. It really was very positive and there was lots of openness, comprehension and a clear desire to resolve the issues,” Nin Novoa said.
Historically, the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) have applied strong protectionist policies imposing higher import tariffs on industrial goods in order to strengthen their domestic goods.
“The Mercosur is important and within the Mercosur we must find niches to complement ourselves with our neighbors,” Malcorra said. “We are doing it with Uruguay and there are opportunities with Paraguay as well.”