"There will be meetings in Shenzhen (southeast) and Beijing with Chinese businessmen to see commercial opportunities between both countries; we believe Uruguay can be a business platform for China to enter Latin America and other countries, mainly in our sector, [since] we have a presence from the US to the south of Argentina," Loureiro said.
The trip will run from 31 February to 6 February and will coincide with the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Montevideo, which will be celebrated on 3 February.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will arrive in Uruguay on Jan. 23 to discuss with Tabaré Vázquez's government the possibility of establishing a "comprehensive strategic partnership" between the two countries, as China has with Argentina and Brazil, reported local weekly Búsqueda.
Cuti's president added that he also believes that China can help Uruguay "enter the Eastern market".
"This type of mission is important to know how to do business" in that Asian country, he said.
The Uruguayan delegation will travel to China on the 31st of this month, and will be headed by Minister Cosse and made up of 30 businessmen, most of them from Cuti, as well as representatives from different government agencies, such as the National Telecommunications Administration.
Antonio Carámbula, executive director of Uruguay XXI, the state agency in charge of investment and export promotion, will also travel.
"The objective is to strengthen relations with China; we are going to visit different information technology (ICT) companies such as Huawei, ZTE, a number one in drones and a company dedicated to the construction of robots for educational and industrial purposes, all in the city of Shenzhen; then in Beijing we will see the company Baidu, which is the most advanced in artificial intelligence" of that country, said Loureiro.
On February 3, there will also be protocol activities for the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Uruguay.
Cuti entrepreneurs also hope to do business in China and partner with Chinese companies to do business in other markets.
"We have to see how to incorporate Uruguayan software to Chinese companies and products," he said.
Two Uruguayan companies of the sector are already installed in China: Genexus and Human PHI.
"It is important to be clear about the cultural aspects of doing business in China and with Chinese companies, these missions are important for that," he said.
Currently Uruguay exports ICT products to 52 countries, mainly to the USA, between 50 and 60%, and secondly to Argentina, with 7%, followed by several other destinations with 5%, including Spain, Switzerland, Japan, Colombia.
The SITC hopes to increase exports to China, which today account for less than 1% of the total.
Sixty-six percent of Uruguay's ICT exports are software implementation and custom software development services, while 34% are software licenses.
The annual export of Uruguay's ICT sector is US$400 million, he reported.
Cuti participated in the China LAC 2017 event held last November in the Uruguayan city of Punta del Este (southeast) and also plans to be present when that business summit is held in the Chinese city of Zhuhai (southeast) later this year.
Source: Sputnik, Montevideo.
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