Brazil, Uruguay plan 3 joint infrastructure projects

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Uruguayan counterpart Luis Lacalle Pou said at a meeting that they plan three joint infrastructure projects to forge closer ties. 

"Lula is once again looking to have Brazil play a more important international role. Since the Dilma Rousseff administration [from January 2011-August 2016], which accelerated during the administration of Jair Bolsonaro [2019-2022], we have seen the country reducing its participation on the global stage,” Welber Barral, a former deputy foreign trade minister, told BNamericas. "Lula, on the contrary, has always been a defender of a greater role for Brazil in the international arena," said Barral, who served from 2007-11 during Lula’s first administration.

The projects were presented during Lula’s visit to Uruguay on Wednesday.

One of them involve turning Uruguay's Rivera airport, which borders Santana do Livramento, a city in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state, into an international airport.

"I think there are many Brazilians who dream of the Rivera airport becoming an international airport. We are going to discuss this very carefully with Brazil’s ports and airports minister and soon have an answer," said Lula.

Another of the projects is building a second bridge over the Jaguarão River to improve bilateral connectivity.

"As president I want to publicly assume this commitment with the [Uruguayan] president and with the people of Uruguay, to build this bridge," said Lula during a speech.

In his speech Lacalle Pou said both countries want to advance with the creation of a waterway in the Mirim and dos Patos lagoons. For this, it will be necessary to dredge the channel on the Brazilian side. 

“The amount [of funding] will not be very high, but it will be important for both nations," said Lacalle Pou.

TRADE 

The Brazilian government is seeking to convince Uruguay to hold talks over a trade deal with China within the Mercosur trading bloc, as opposed to the bilateral talks that are currently taking place.

"We want to sit down [as Mercosur] and discuss a Mercosur-China agreement with our Chinese friends," said Lula.

Mercosur is a customs union that is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Brazil and Argentina are working to avoid a trade agreement between Uruguay and China as they view it as a strategy by the Asian giant to use Uruguay as a gateway to sell its industrial products in the other Mercosur countries, a Brazilian government source told BNamericas on condition of anonymity.