Diplomat Affairs Magazine 2021/2022

Page 34

uruguay

Deepening bi-lateral relations and mutual cooperation The covid-19 pandemic definitely changed our agendas during the last year and a half, having to revert to virtual or hybrid meetings, and to postpone a great deal of events, among which, on the cultural side, the visit of the national tall ship “Capitán Miranda” to Amsterdam, which could fortunately visit Curacao in 2019 on the occasion of “Dia di Bandera”.

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Similarly, on the occasion of Uruguay national day, we limited ourselves to sharing country information on some economic, social, and cultural issues. We therefore hope to be able to engage again with the Dutch public in 2022, for example, through a wine tasting, organized with INAVI, during the “Tannat” week in April, or the participation of “Galería Sur” (Punta del Este) at the TEFAF in Maastricht, as every March, presenting some valuable pieces of art of our most renowned artists, with painters like Joaquín Torres García and his disciples of the Constructivism school, or contemporary marble sculptor Pablo Atchugarry. In 2020 we, nevertheless, had the opportunity to give a lecture in French, organized by “L’Amitié Club de La Haye” on freedom of expression and women’s rights, bringing anecdotes of the Uruguayan female pioneers in the Inter-American system, the League of Nations and then the United Nations when drafting the U.N. Charter, and this November with the “Asociación Hispánica de La Haya” we will be honouring Mario Benedetti, poet and novelist of the XXth century, born in 1920, through a lecture by Uruguayan born, Prof. Gabriel Inzaurralde, Professor of Latin-American Studies at Leiden University. On the economic and trade relationship with the Netherlands, I would like to highlight the different meetings organized by the Embassy of Uruguay in the second semester of 2020 with Members of the Dutch Parliament from political parties which conform the government coalition, 34 DIPLOMAT AFFAIRS

BY H.E. MRS LAURA DUPUY, AMBASSADOR OF URUGUAY

URUGUAY AND THE NETHERLANDS SHARE MANY VALUES, INCLUDING THE SUPPORT TO THE MULTILATERAL SYSTEM, THE PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS AND THE RULE OF LAW AND RESPECT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. on the benefits or opportunities of approving the MERCOSUR-European Union Association Agreement (after more than 20 years of negotiations between the 4 Member States and the European Commission). Our Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM) together with Port of Rotterdam prepared last year a pre-feasibility study on the opportunities to produce, and in the future export, green hydrogen (H2), based on the complemen-

tarity of our wind and solar resources, integrating the global supply chain, which would require doubling (or more) the current national renewable power production by 2050. In April, the H2U transport pilot project was launched in Uruguay. At the end of October our port authorities will participate in a meeting in Rotterdam and Amsterdam to prepare for this new clean energy transition, and on the 9th and 10th of November we will receive the official visit of H.E. Minister Paganini (MIEM) with an important delegation, to exchange views with his Dutch counterpart, the Minister of Economic affairs and climate policy, as well as to interact with Dutch companies in this field; hoping to deepen the bilateral relationship and mutual cooperation on a common and global challenge. Uruguay and the Netherlands share many values, including the support to the multilateral system, the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law and respect of International Law. In that sense it is worth mentioning that both countries are part of the Equal Rights Coalition (established in Montevideo in July 2016, in a jointly organized world conference on human rights of LGBTI persons), the Elsie Initiative (on improving women participation in U.N. peace operations, and in general in peace and security related activities), the Media Freedom Coalition and of the international Transport Decarbonization Alliance (TDA), upon the invitation by the government of the Netherlands when it was chairing it.


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