Cultural exchange to play a bigger role in China-Uruguay collaboration

Cultural exchanges would be the next top priority of collaboration between China and Uruguay, said Uruguayan Ambassador to China Fernando Lugris.

He made the remarks at a fashion show held by the Uruguay embassy in China on Monday. The show, which features Uruguayan designer Ana Livni, is held as a celebration of the 35th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Uruguay and China.

This show is a commemoration of bilateral relations, and it has witnessed Uruguay's wool export to China increase and the development of bilateral friendship, the ambassador said. "At the same time, I hope that on the next 35th anniversary, in addition to wool, we can see more design products and a variety of higher-end technologies in the bilateral trade."

Apart from being the anniversary, this year has also witnessed Uruguayan President Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou's visit to China and the upgrade of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in November.

"A lot of progress has been made in the bilateral relation. We have a much more meaningful agenda between the two countries that includes cultural exchanges and fashion," said the ambassador.

China and Uruguay "have been founding our relationship in political trust and trade. For instance, wool was a significant part of the bilateral trade in the first 25 years of the bilateral relation. In the last 10 years, we have diversified our exports, but now we want to jump and do more cultural changes, bring our design, do more research together," he said.

 "We are having several delegations at this moment in China, promoting deeper cooperation among universities, scientific and research institutions," he added.

During the Uruguayan president's visit to China in November, the two nations signed a Belt and Road cooperation plan and several bilateral cooperation documents in the fields of trade and investment, the digital economy, green development, education, culture, and sci-tech innovation.

China also expressed willingness to provide more scholarships to Uruguay to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges.