Español • Print

IICA and Uruguay’s Meat Institute sign letter of understanding

IICA and the INAC will work together to improve information systems and knowledge management in the trade negotiations involving Uruguay’s meat sector.

IICA and the National Meat Institute (INAC) signed a letter of understanding on 29 May, during the activities held to commemorate Meat Day. The agreement is intended to formalize the support for the trade negotiations involving Uruguay’s meat sector.

“The meat sector’s Trade Negotiations Committee began operating on an informal basis in December 2007. After verifying that it was functioning and achieving the objectives for which it was set up, a letter of understanding was drawn up to create a joint unit to follow and analyze the negotiations,” explained Alejandra Bentancur, Agribusiness Specialist at the IICA Office in Uruguay.

IICA’s Representative in Uruguay, Manuel Otero, and the President of the INAC, Alfredo Fratti, signed the letter of understanding to formalize the support for the country’s meat sector in the trade negotiations.

Under the agreement, the two institutes will work together to improve information systems and knowledge management in the trade negotiations involving the meat sector, consolidate the country’s technical capabilities for negotiating and implementing trade agreements, and meet specific needs in that field.

The unit will be providing information about the progress of the different bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations and preparing reports to support Uruguay’s meat negotiations with its different trading partners.

Bentancur said the reports on the negotiations in the meat sector would be published on an extranet that was being constructed as part of the INAC’s website. The negotiators of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the staff of Uruguay’s embassies around the world would have access to the reports.

A second group of (purely informational) documents will be published on the INAC’s website, which has been redesigned.

The unit’s team comprises Bentancur and two INAC specialists, Raul Duvos (of the Information and Strategic Analysis Area) and Raquel Pol (Foreign Markets Area). Consultant Cristina Zurbriggen will coordinate the work.

Two members of INAC’s Board of Directors - one representing producers (Roald Rivoir) and another representing processors (Rodrigo Goñi) - will also be involved.

For more information, contact
alejandra.bentancur@iica.org.uy

IICA Connection is the electronic bulletin of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. Writing and production: Office of Public Information and Institutional Image.
iicaconexion@iica.int