Fernando Lugris, Uruguay's ambassador to China, pointed out in an interview that Uruguay hopes to continue to support the initiative and make contributions to the joint construction of the Belt and Road from its own advantages. The ambassador said connectivity and infrastructure construction are crucial, and the Belt and Road Initiative can open the door to investment and project cooperation, boost infrastructure construction and promote trade facilitation.

Fernando Lugris said that we sincerely hope that the Belt and Road Initiative can continue to provide a good atmosphere for bilateral relations to reach a new level. When we joined the Belt and Road, we could immediately feel the increase in trade volume and the deepening of our strategic partnership. Of course, our consensus on free trade was also reflected in some achievements, such as the joint feasibility study of the free trade agreement jointly completed by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay under the framework of the Belt and Road.

So, we hope that the next phase of the Belt and Road initiative will create more trade, more investment, more exchanges on free trade and a brighter future for both our countries. As you mentioned earlier, free trade can bring development to individuals and society. So we are defenders of the multilateral system, of the UN institutions, including the WTO, and of integration in Latin America and globally. Editor/Xu Shengpeng