Uruguay makes a difference at China's International Imports Exhibition (CIIE)

Uruguay closed its participation in the second edition of the China International Exposition of Imports (CIIE), after an extensive agenda led by the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Enzo Benech and the executive director of Uruguay XXI, Antonio Carámbula, with the support of the Uruguayan Embassy in China.

Minister Enzo Benech referred to the largest buyers' fair in Asia and said: "At the inauguration, President Xi Jinping again delved into the concept of La Franja and La Ruta, and the need, as the engine of the economy, to open the border of the Chinese people to trade with everyone, including some small countries like ours.

The agency for the promotion of investments, exports and country image, Uruguay XXI, coordinated the participation of 30 Uruguayan multisectorial companies. In this sense, the minister stressed the importance of this mission because it strengthens trade links with China, which is currently and for 65 years our main trade ally.

He added that "Uruguay and China are very complementary countries", that currently the relationship with the Asian country is "in a permanent advance" and that they have a trade balance that "grows strongly, harmoniously and levelly".

In addition, he highlighted the milestones reached on the tour, such as the protocols for the entry of honey and horsemeat, the memorandum of understanding with the State Administration Regulatory Markets on Food Safety. In addition, the minister highlighted the conclusion of agreements of the dairy industries Conaprole and Claldy with several Chinese companies, and the agreement of the Florida refrigerator for the export of important tons of meat.

Uruguay found new opportunities in the Chinese market in CIIE 2019. The Uruguayan executives presented to more than 500,000 importers from all over the world the admirable quality of Uruguayan food and the efficiency of the services by the country known as "the jewel of South America. Uruguay also presented the wide range of investment opportunities in sectors such as tourism, logistics, food, agribusiness, ICTs and cultural and creative industries.

The head of the Uruguayan government announced that in December the Uruguayan authorities will receive Chinese delegations to advance in new commercial protocols, agreements, authorizations and pertinent authorizations for the entry of various products such as poultry meat, non-GM soybeans, sorghum, meat and bone meal, soybean meal and seeds, caviar, snails, conger eel and capybara, among others.

Finally, Benech considered that the official trade promotion mission by China had very favorable results for both countries, for Uruguayan companies and the industry in general.

For his part, the executive director of Uruguay XXI also highlighted the great moment Uruguay-China relations are going through and the country's entry in 2018 to the project "One strip, one route". "We were the first Mercosur to join this Chinese initiative and with the same objectives we are in Shanghai now, positioning Uruguay as a business hub and gateway to the region," he said.

Carámbula also recalled that Uruguay is the only Mercosur country and one of the few in Latin America that has investment grade, adding that the stock of direct foreign investment in relation to GDP has been growing in recent times and exceeds the average in the region.