Representatives of the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Uruguay today in Montevideo, Uruguay, signed an agreement establishing a Joint Commission on Trade and Investment ("Commission"). Assistant United States Trade Representative Regina Vargo signed for the United States. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Guillermo Valles signed for Uruguay.

In signing this agreement, both parties affirmed their commitment to pursue means to increase trade and investment between the United States and Uruguay, while simultaneously coordinating their efforts to promote greater trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

According to the Agreement, the Commission’s principal objectives will be to:

1. Provide a forum for policy discussions, designed to strengthen trade and investment relations between the United States of America and Uruguay;
2. Develop and implement a work agenda to address topics of mutual interest including the full range of trade and investment issues and measures, as well as the restrictions that affect them;
3. Exchange points of view on discussions and initiatives underway in regional of multilateral organizations or fora in which both countries participate, in order to foster concerted action;
4. Identify methods of cooperation for addressing common trade problems in third markets;
5. Pursue the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005;
6. Identify areas of common interest in which the United States and Uruguay may agree to take joint or individual actions to facilitate bilateral trade and investment, which may be drawn into the FTAA negotiations.

In addition to concluding an agreement on the structure of the Commission, Assistant Trade Representative Vargo and Vice Minister Valles agreed on a draft Work Plan for 2002. In addition to creating opportunities to confer on WTO and FTAA related issues, the Work Plan calls for the two sides to establish Working Groups in the areas of Services, including financial services and telecommunications, Biotechnology and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures, and Information Technology, including electronic commerce and intellectual property.

The Commission may also establish ad hoc working groups, composed of officials from appropriate government ministries and agencies, to address specific issues of mutual interest. Conclusions or recommendations reached by all the Working Groups shall be submitted to the Commission for agreement on future actions.

The parties agreed that the Commission shall meet at least once a year, and the location of the meeting will alternate between the two countries.