Good practices for investment and export promotion

#1 International Promotion of the country

Uruguay XXI carried out -with the imprint and contents of the country brand Uruguay Natural- a strategy based on three pillars: the promotion of the country in key markets, the work with the public and private sectors and the application of contemporary communication and promotional marketing tools.

The actions are carried out through a country marketing methodology in which different elements intervene and interact. On the one hand, the presence of ministerial authorities in business promotion events, which also have the imprint of the country's culture, gastronomy and sports, which open doors to the Uruguayan identity and to the knowledge of the country brand.

These events, which are aimed at key target audiences, such as potential investors in specific sectors and Uruguayan companies, are also accompanied by promotional communication campaigns involving the management of specialized press, programmatic advertising and social networks. In this sense, one of the milestones of the last year was the incorporation of the Chinese social networks, which have accompanied all the actions carried out in the lands of Uruguay's main trading partner.

In this sense, in 2019, there were more than 1,800 international news publications linked to actions in markets such as China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, United Kingdom, United States and Mexico, among others.

#2 Investment attraction by sector

The work of attracting investments by productive sectors involved specialization from a prospective point of view, and also the agency's internal work in the creation of trade intelligence information, public-private coordination and the construction of the country's sectoral brands.

Sectors were prioritized according to the government plan, in a bid to project the work of Uruguayans into the future.

#3 Inter-institutional coordination

For two years now, Uruguay has had an synergy institutional structure aimed at generating the conditions for competitiveness and leading the strategy of opening up through sectoral roadmaps under the umbrella of the System of Productive Transformation and Competitiveness.

Working as a system has allowed for greater efficiency and coordination in inter-institutional work, promoting better conditions of competitiveness for production.

For the period 2018-2021, the Productive Transformation and Competitiveness Cabinet prioritized five sectors that will make up the initial set of Roadmaps, with specific focuses already identified within some of them: ICTs, Food, Logistics, Creative Industries and Wood Forestry.

#4 Improvement the business climate

In 2019 the After Care sector was created in Uruguay XXI. In this sense, the agency has made special focus on foreign companies installed in the country as a way to increase and sophisticate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), integration of local suppliers in global value chains and collaboration in the promotion of the country.

We also contributed to the continuous improvement of the business environment for the construction of competitive advantages and investor satisfaction, and focused the work by strategic sectors of high impact.

In this working context, Uruguay XXI offers stakeholders a comprehensive vision and access to quality information on businesses and priority platforms, and contributes to greater links between foreign investors and local actors in business ecosystems.

It also offers support to installed companies and facilitates solutions to the challenges that arise both at the individual level and in the business ecosystem in which companies operate.

In this role, the agency promotes the expansion and diversification of the installed companies, trying to develop operations in other platforms.