euskalkultura.eus

Montevideo, Uruguay.  Gipuzkoa’s Provincial Government’s trade mission in Uruguay begins today with a full schedule of activities that includes a series of meetings with institutions and local entities, such as Uruguay XXI, the Institute of Promotion and Investments and Exportations of Goods and Services, and AFE, the Administration of State Railways.  The day will conclude with a meeting at the Ministry of Industry to discuss business opportunities in the areas of shipbuilding, industrial, energy and roads.

Tomorrow the Basque delegation will be welcomed by the country’s president Jose Mujica, who is also of Basque descent.  Mujica’s ancestors arrived in the country at the end of the nineteenth century, settling on the shores of the Rio de la Plata.  After the meeting the delegation will meet with directors of the ANCAP, a public enterprise of hydrocarbons, and then will also visit Uruguay’s Technological Park, along with a vocational university, who has shown interest in getting to know the Basque vocational training system.  The day will conclude with a reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Wednesday, the last day of the trip, businessmen will have the opportunity to deepen relations with previously made contacts.  The mission will conclude with a reception with the Basque community, where the delegation will have the opportunity to converse with the significant collectivity of Basques in Uruguay who are largely represented in FIVU the Federation of Basque Institutions of Uruguay.  FIVU’s president, Miguel Asqueta, will also be attending, along with directors and members of the three Basque clubs of Montevideo (Euskaro, Euskal Erria and Haize Hegoa) as well as with members of the other dozen Basque centers that exist throughout the country.

The reception will be hold at the headquarters of Euskal Erria Basque Center, an institution that is celebrating this year its Centennial (address, San Jose 1168), at the 'Aurora Ezcurra' room, Wednesday, July 11th at 7:30pm.