Integration with Asia is strategy for future: Uruguay

Beijing, May 29 (IANS/EFE) Uruguayan President Jose Mujica said here Tuesday that the policy of integrating the economies of his country and Asia is a necessary "strategy for the future".

At a meeting in Beijing's Great Hall of the People with the speaker of the National People's Congress, Zhang Dejiang, Mujica said that Uruguay is on "a very rich continent, but the most unjust one on earth because of the way its riches are distributed".

China, who since last year has been Uruguay's leading trade partner, has an increasing participation in it economic future, he said.

Uruguay, he said, is the "last agricultural reserve that remains to humanity", at a time when the demand for food is growing in Asia.

For that reason, he said, the policy of integration is "a strategy for the future" and something necessary to the extent that Asia and its needs continue to grow.

"Since we're no longer in the era of colonialism, I think we must continue strengthening this relationship," the Uruguayan president said.

The meeting came the day after Mujica was received by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who expressed his government's readiness to promote bilateral relations.

After the meeting with Zhang, Mujica, who Tuesday wrapped up his four-day trip to China, took part in the inauguration of Uruguay Day at the China International Fair for Trade in Services.

--IANS/EFE

rd