Uruguay and China have resumed negotiations on an agreement on beef exports for the first time since 2018. According to the Uruguayan National Journal website on September 22, this is the first time the two countries have renegotiated an agreement on beef exports since 2018. Uruguay’s Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Fernando Matos, said the negotiations were very mature and Uruguay proposed to reduce the waiting time in domestic livestock facilities from 90 days to 46 days before they were slaughtered to be sold abroad.

Matos stressed that this was the first opportunity since 2018 to renegotiate the agreement, as well as the first time to evaluate China’s revised proposals, only after the entire negotiation process has been completed and the protocol will formally enter into force.

According to reports, Uruguayan Foreign Ministry senior official Nicolas Albertoni and technicians from the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries have traveled to China last week to meet with representatives of relevant departments of the Chinese government.

It is worth noting that in recent years, China and Ukraine have seen a strong momentum in bilateral trade development. In 2022, China and Ukraine’s trade volume surpassed $7 billion for the first time, which is 60 times more than when the two countries established trade. Since 2012, China has been established as Uruguay’s largest trading partner, and the area of cooperation is also constantly expanding.

According to customs data, the gross value of import and export of China and Uruguay reached RMB 250.8 billion in 1-8 of this year, of which Chinas exports to Uruguay amounted to RMB 141.0 billion, up 12.7% compared to the same period; while imports from Uruguay amounted to RMB 109.8 billion, down 42.6% compared to the same period.

Looking back at the history of China-Ukraine trade, it is interesting to note that China-Ukraine trade has been cried out as “depending on one hand”, meaning that Uruguay’s oatmeal exports occupy a major part of the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. However, with the passage of time, China-Ukraine bilateral trade structure is continuing to optimize as the cooperation between the two countries in the fields of customs inspection, sanitation, agriculture and livestock is deepening.

Today, in addition to oatmeal, beef, soybeans, pulp, dairy products, many Uruguayan quality products have also increasingly entered the Chinese market.

Meanwhile, household appliances, everyday appliances, machinery, vehicles and other Made in China products are also continuously entering the daily life of Uruguayan citizens. The truck rolling boat, weather mobile ground application system, etc. designed and built by China, has also been put into use in Uruguay, providing strong support for Uruguays economic development and climate change response.

Overall, China-Ukraine economic and trade cooperation is increasingly enriched, and the cooperation between the two sides has shown a solid and sustainable development trend.The re-negotiation of the beef export agreement will undoubtedly further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries in the field of agriculture and livestock, and promote the development of bilateral trade relations at a higher level.