Uruguay, Argentina reach agreement on monitoring border river

Uruguay and Argentina have inked a deal on monitoring the Uruguay River, a move that may end a long-time dispute over the pollution of the border river, authorities said on Friday.

"The deal is done, and it includes scientific control on the UPM pulp mill and other industrial bases near the river," Uruguayan Vice Foreign Minister Roberto Conde told a local radio station on Friday.

Argentina has fiercely protested Uruguay's approval of building the UPM pulp mill along the border river since 2005, fearing that severe pollution may endanger the ecological environment of the river on its side.

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said at his microblog Twitter on Friday morning that the solution to the issue "is in hands of the scientists to study and monitor the impacts" of the industrial and agricultural activities in the riverside.

The two governments also verified on Friday that industrial activities of the paper mill would not pollute the surroundings.

In April 2010, the International Court of Justice rejected Argentina's complaint that the mill had polluted the Uruguay River, but ruled that Uruguay's approval of the paper mill had breached an agreement signed in 1975 between the two countries.

In June 2010, leaders of the two countries agreed to finalize monitoring criteria within 60 days.

Source:Xinhua