President Luis Lacalle Pou participated in the LXIII Summit of Mercosur Heads of State in December 2023, which led to the transfer of the pro tempore presidency from Brazil to Paraguay and, the Uruguayan president, took advantage of his moment of intervention to insist on the importance which has the possibility of greater commercial opening to the world for Uruguay.
Within this general framework, the relationship with China had its leading moment. On the one hand, this is what the president of Uruguay had promised in his meeting with Xi Jinping: to raise the possibility of a summit between the Asian giant and the South American bloc to continue cementing commercial and diplomatic ties. On the other hand, the government sees the possibility of making stronger progress on the bilateral agenda in the changes in the distribution of powers within the regional group.
Likewise, the FTA signed with Singapore, the first in the history of Mercosur with an Asia-Pacific country, was the jewel in the crown of a summit that, more than being decisive, seemed to be the step towards a new era in the internal relations of the regional bloc.
