Uruguay and Brazil presidents have met over the weekend on the ongoing United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah), and trade talks between the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trading bloc and the European Union (EU), a Uruguayan official said Monday.

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff met Sunday in Brazil's capital Brasilia, Uruguay's Assistant Presidential Secretary Diego Canepa said, adding that it was "a very good meeting and there was broad understanding between the two parties on all issues."

The Haiti mission was under discussion as Mujica has said recently that he planned to order the return of nearly 1,000 Uruguayan troops currently in Haiti as part of the UN blue helmet peacekeeping forces, due to lack of progress being made in Haiti's democratic process.

"Minustah is there to establish peace and guarantees for the reconstruction of Haiti," said Canepa. "It's not there permanently to assure any other process than that of democratization."

Canepa, however, did not disclose what agreement reached between the two countries on the Haiti mission.

Brazil has the largest number of troops in Haiti as part of the stabilization mission, while Uruguay has the second largest. Haiti has been roiled by recent protests against government incompetence in reconstruction efforts and foot-dragging in organizing new elections.

Regarding the trade talks between the EU and Mercosur, which groups Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, Canepa said that Brazil and Uruguay agreed that "after a decade of negotiations, the time has come to establish the trade agreement."

The agreement "would be important for the countries and for the region, because it would give us a sustainable channel of trade," he said.

Brazil and Uruguay want Mercosur to present the EU with a list of products in December to push the negotiations forward, which have stumbled so far over differences on agriculture, notably Europe's subsidies to its farmers, reports said.

Mujica was expected to travel to Venezuela Monday to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nation is the latest to join the South American trade bloc. Endi

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