On January 29, Li Chenggang, China International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce, and Valeria Csukasi, Uruguay’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, co-chaired the 22nd session of the China-Uruguay Mixed Economic and Trade Committee in Beijing. The two sides had in-depth discussions on various topics related to bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Li Chenggang noted that against the backdrop of a global economic slowdown, rising uncertainties, and sluggish trade, China-Uruguay economic and trade cooperation has delivered solid results. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will expand high-standard opening-up and share opportunities for development with the world, including Uruguay. Under the guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, China is ready to better align development strategies with Uruguay. The two sides are expected to not only maintain sound cooperation momentum but also explore new cooperation opportunities in such areas as new energy, technological innovation, and trade in services, thus fully unleashing each other’s development potential and taking bilateral economic and trade cooperation to higher levels.

Csukasi said in recent years, Uruguay-China relations have grown rapidly. China is Uruguay’s largest trading partner, and Uruguay-China economic and trade cooperation is of great strategic importance to Uruguay. Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi will lead a large delegation on a visit to China next week, which fully demonstrates Uruguay’s willingness to strengthen cooperation with China across fields. The Uruguayan side is glad that the mixed economic and trade committee has paved the way in terms of economic and trade outcomes for the visit. Uruguay hopes to deepen bilateral trade and investment cooperation, enhance communication and coordination within multilateral frameworks, follow through on the outcomes of the high-level visit, and elevate bilateral pragmatic cooperation to a higher level.