The delegation of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, headed by Mr.Ariel Bergamino, Deputy Foreign Minister of Uruguay visited Mongolia on April 1-3, 2018. He had talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Mrs. B.Batsetseg and exchanged views on the bilateral relations and cooperation.
Both sides emphasized the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations in 2017, and exchanged views on developing bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the fields of politics, economy, agriculture, renewable energy, sports and tourism, and promoting multilateral cooperation. The Uruguayan side expressed its willingness to share their experiences and expertise in the agricultural sector, mainly the policies and legal environment related to the promotion of export-oriented agricultural products.
During the meeting received by the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Light Industry of Mongolia, Mr. B.Batzorig, the Uruguayan side stated that a delegation composed of agricultural representatives of public and private sectors, will come to Mongolia in the near future and invited the Minister to pay a visit to Uruguay and participate in the International Agricultural Fair.
Uruguay is politically stable and has a high economic growth, with a strong agricultural and renewable energy sector, and has successfully developed public-private partnership. For instance, the country is the 8th largest beef exporting country, representing 4.8% of world exports, with 12 million cattle and 7.7 million sheep. The agricultural sector accounts for more than 60 percent of the total exports of Uruguay, and 70 percent of its beef production are supplied, with semi-processed and frozen form, to more than 100 countries worldwide. Uruguay is free from animal infectious foot-and-mouth disease with 100% cattle traceability. Furthermore, Uruguay has successfully implemented extensive livestock husbandry, animal sanitation, production of export-oriented agricultural and meat products and policies for export promotion.
In addition, Uruguay, which has developed its renewable energy sector, based on public-private partnership, now produces 95 percent of total electricity consumption and 55 percent of energy consumption from renewable energy, particularly wind power.
During the visit, both sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of a Political Consultative Mechanism between the two Ministries and the Agreement on the exemption of visa requirements for holders of all types of passports. Thus, our country has a constant mechanism of political consultations with Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Paraguay. Plus, citizens of Mongolia are eligible for visa-free travel to Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay.
Defense Minister Mr. N.Enkhbold received the Deputy Minister Ariel Bergamino and both parties agreed to work together to jointly develop military-field exercises, to improve capacity of defense personnel, to invite Uruguayan side to take part in the “Khaan Quest” International exercise and to exchange representatives in the framework of peacekeeping cooperation.
The two sides noted that Uruguayan Deputy Foreign Minister’s visit to Mongolia is an important step for strengthening friendly relations between the two countries and developing bilateral cooperation.
Mongolia and Uruguay established diplomatic relations on October 7, 1997.
With a population of 3.5 million, Uruguay is one of the leading food producers and strong in good governance, economic freedom, e-government and e-participation not only in the region, but also in the world.
