Australia–Uruguay relations
Encyclopedia
Australia–Uruguay relations are foreign relations between Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

. Australia is represented in Uruguay through its embassy in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

 (Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

) and an honorary consulate in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

. Uruguay has an embassy in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

 and a general consulate in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

.

Australia and Uruguay share an interest in the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

 and the fisheries
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

 therein. Both countries are full members of the Cairns Group
Cairns Group
The Cairns Group is an interest group of 19 agricultural exporting countries, composed of Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay.-History...

 and the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, also Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and CCAMLR, is part of the Antarctic Treaty System...

. A number of incidents have taken place in Antarctic waters involving Uruguayan-flagged sailing boats and Australian officers.

Political

Australia and Uruguay have friendly relations due to shared political and economic interests. Since 1996, Diego L. Payssé is Australia's Honorary Consul in Montevideo. The two countries' foreign ministers met in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 during a 2008 United Nations General Assembly meeting and discussed ways to increase links between Australia and Uruguay.

Illegal fishing incidents

In August 2003, the Australian government boarded a suspected illegal fishing vessel, the Viarsa I, in Antarctic waters. The vessel was boarded by personnel from the Australian customs and fisheries patrol boat Southern Supporter, backed by armed South African enforcement officers. A Uruguayan was detained and taken into custody of the Australian government. The detainment of the official caused a rift between Australia and Uruguay, who demanded the official's immediate release. Australian Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald
Ian Macdonald (Australian politician)
Ian Douglas Macdonald , Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian Senate since July 1990, representing Queensland. He was born in Brisbane, Queensland, and was a solicitor before entering politics...

 claimed that the official along with the rest of the crew be charged under Australian law. Uruguay then ordered the fishing vessel home to face local law, causing a strain on the relations between the two countries who each thought the ship should be prosecuted under their own jurisdictions. Still, the two countries stated they were cooperating to resolve their difficulties.

Four months after the initial incident, HMAS Warramunga
HMAS Warramunga (FFH 152)
HMAS Warramunga is an Anzac class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy .-Design and construction:The Anzac class originated from RAN plans to replace the six River class destroyer escorts with a mid-capability patrol frigate...

intercepted the Uruguayan-flagged Maya V in the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

 about 4000 kilometres (2,159.8 nmi) south west of Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

 boarded and thanked the crew for their work fighting illegal fishing saying, "Australians feel very strongly that people who want to illegally fish in our waters, who want to pillage our assets, should be repelled and, where appropriate, apprehended." Two top officials representing Uruguay and Australia met to discuss issues involving the Maya V incident. Uruguayan Ambassador to Australia Pedro Mo Amaro said in a statement on the news, "We agree with all the measures Australian authorities have taken but not with these measures against the crew," he went on to say "We think the crew is innocent - they have not committed any offences." The crew involved later were charged varying fines and released back to Uruguay.

Economic

Economic relations include monetary aid between the two nations. Australian imports totalled 27 million Australian Dollars in the period between 2007 and 2008. Australia exported 24 million Australian Dollars worth of items to Uruguay.

Cultural

Uruguayan Australian
Uruguayan Australian
A Uruguayan Australian is any person of Uruguayan ancestry or birth who is a citizen or resident of Australia.According to the 2006 Australian census, 9,376 Australians were born in Uruguay while 6,485 claimed Uruguayan ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry.- References :...

s are an ethnic minority in Australia with very small populations in larger Australian cities. The first migrants from Uruguay came to Australia during the 1960s during a time of political and economical hardship. That population has grown slowly but at a steady pace into the 21st century despite the fact the turmoil has ended in Uruguay.

The two nations' respective national football team have competed with each other in the intercontinental playoffs for the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2006. Uruguay advanced in the former edition while Australia qualified in the latter.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK