International

Monitoring: Argentina Wants "Special Chapter" for UPM

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 09:41

The foreign ministers Héctor Timerman and Luis Almagro will meet Wednesday in the San Martin Palace, headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina. In Argentina sources confirm they expect a closed a deal for the river monitoring and control of plant UPM (ex Botnia) while in Uruguay it is said it will take some time yet.

One point that is obstructing the agreement is that Argentina intends to include a "special chapter" for the monitoring of UPM plant. The Uruguayan government's position is that the monitoring has to be "at large" over the river and there is no need to specify anything about the processing plant.

The Argentine Foreign Minister Timerman "will propose to advance in the monitoring plan for Botnia-UPM, as stated in the sentence (of the international court), which comprises a continuous joint monitoring of the functioning" of the plant and "their impact on Uruguay River".

Almagro said the possibility of reaching an agreement with Argentina is near. The Chancellor said that the details "fit almost entirely to the proposal that they (Argentina) had formulated for the comprehensive monitoring of the River Uruguay", adding that pending issues won't likely compromise negotiations.

(www.elpais.com.uy, July 20, 2010)

Argentina Cuts Natural Gas Service

Thursday, 15 July 2010 09:38

Due to the natural gas shortage, Argentina cut the supply to 10 Uruguayan businesses that have “interruptible” contracts. National Energy Director Ramón Méndez said that Buenos Aires has vowed to keep residential customers supplied with gas, since they have a different type of contract that guarantees supply.

These “interruptible” contracts have been in effect since the winter of 2003. and the affected businesses have alternate sources of energy so they can maintain operations.

(www.espectador.com, July 15, 2010)

Uruguay Accepts Joint Monitoring of UPM Pulpwood Mill

Thursday, 08 July 2010 09:43

Uruguayan Chancellor Luis Almagro visited his Argentine counterpart Héctor Timerman and delivered the Uruguayan counter-proposal. In the proposal, Uruguay accepts Argentina’s monitoring of UPM, with the stipulation that Uruguay will be allowed to monitor all the industries on the Argentine side of the River Uruguay.

Brazil has been discounted as an arbitrator or a monitoring partner. President José Mujica had proposed Brazil’s participation, but it was seen as unfavorable by Argentina, and Brazil wasn’t interested.

The creation of a monitoring center in Gualeguaychú, and the participation of Argentine and Uruguayan universities in the environmental studies, was accepted by Uruguay. Nevertheless, the counter-proposal doesn’t include a reference to the picketers and their environmental assembly.

Uruguay expects a response from Argentina within a week. Chancellor Luis Almagro expressed to the opposition leaders that once Argentina’s response is known, a meeting will be scheduled with the assembly leaders so they can all adopt a common position.

(www.espectador.com, 8 de Julio de 2010)

Picketers Agree to Monitoring

Wednesday, 07 July 2010 09:29

On Tuesday the activists of Gualeguaychú met with Argentine Chancellor Héctor Timerman in what appears to be the final stages of negotiations regarding the permanent conclusion of the bridge blockade related to the UPM pulpwood mill. The picketers announced that they were in agreement with the accord between the governments of Argentina and Uruguay.

They asked the Argentine government to name a technician to represent them in the internal and external monitoring of both the pulpwood mill and the River Uruguay. In doing so, they admitted that none of their members are capable of performing these duties.

(www.observa.com.uy, July 7 , 2010)

Uruguay Has Monitoring Counter-Proposal Ready

Monday, 05 July 2010 10:06

Chancellor Luis Almagro will travel to Argentina on Wednesday to deliver Uruguay’s pulpwood mill monitoring counter-proposal to his Argentine counterpart Héctor Timerman. The Uruguayan team working on the proposal informed President Mujica of the content, but nothing will be released due to requests from both Chancellors.

The monitoring will embrace the entire River Uruguay, will not include Brazil, and will be managed by the universities of both countries. Also, an environmental watch group will be created. On the other hand, CARU (Administrative Commission of the River Uruguay) will guide a technical delegation that will be responsible for inspecting plants on both sides of the river, including UPM (formerly Botnia).

Argentine Chancellor Timerman, who has demonstrated a desire to resolve the differences with Uruguay, wants to move forward as soon as possible. After Wednesday’s meeting, if Argentina agrees with the changes, the proposal will be implemented around the end of July. The objective of both countries is to keep the environmental picketers from reinstating the bridge blockade.

(www.espectador.com, July 5, 2010)

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