Uruguay proposes to Celac the creation of a free trade area in the region – 01/24/2023 – Market

The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, proposed, this Tuesday (24), that Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) promote the creation of a regional free trade area and criticized the countries of the group that “they do not respect democracy or human rights”.

Lacalle Pou asked his peers in this forum, which brings together 33 countries, to leave behind speeches and move “to action”.

“Isn’t this the time to make these relations more sincere and to promote, from Celac, a free trade area […] from Mexico to the south of South America? Can’t we move forward in that direction?”, he questioned.

“We have possibilities to trade freely. Many of our economies are complementary, and I am sure that we could move forward”, argued Lacalle Pou, at a time when his country is under pressure in Mercosur after its decision to negotiate a free trade treaty. (FTA) with China, something that the other partners —Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay— are wary of.

Furthermore, the Uruguayan president, one of the few center-right leaders to attend the Buenos Aires summit, criticized the “ideological temptation in international forums”, which ends up making them disappear.

“I heard speeches with which I fully agree, others with which I half agree, and others with which I do not agree in almost nothing. But I understand that our nations need to bond”, he maintained, before stating that some speeches bear “titles of solidarity and other concepts that are very beautiful, but that, sometimes, are not put into practice”.

“All the countries that are here condemn actions against democracy in Brazil,” said Lacalle Pou on the January 8 attacks in Brasilia.

And the statement by the CELAC summit “speaks of respect for democracy, human rights and care for institutions”. But, “clearly there are countries here […] that do not respect institutions, democracy or human rights”, he added.

“Do not have a hemiplegic view [parcial] according to the ideological profile”, he asked.

The seventh CELAC summit ends this Tuesday afternoon, after a closed session, from which only a few speeches were released to the public.