Mujica to meet CFK over non-automatic licenses

Uruguayan President José Mujica will meet with his Argentine counterpart, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, to show his concern over the decision to require special import licenses for around 200 products.

Mujica told reporters during a rally in Maldonado that he will arrive in Argentina “on Thursday or Friday.”

Earlier, Uruguay’s Ambassador to Argentina, Guillermo Pomi, said that the government is concerned that the new requirements will make importation more difficult.

The decision to apply non-automatic licenses to 200 more products as an industry-protection measure, which was announced this past week, could lead to losses totaling around 100 million dollars yearly for Uruguay, according to estimates from that country’s Industry Ministry.

“The products in higher demand include vehicles and auto parts, motor accessories, machines and electrical components such as cables and paper, carton and furniture,” said Sebastián Torres, head of Industry in Uruguay.

Those sectors represent a fifth of the total exportations from Uruguay to Argentina, according to Torres. Businessmen from that country have also expressed their concerns over these new obstacles from Argentina and from Brazil as well.