随着中国与南美贸易的增长，深圳广和近日在南美乌拉圭成立分所--广和（南美）律师事务所，这也是目前南美的第一家中国律所。
由合伙人胡晓林领导的广和（南美）律所将主要为中国南美投资及双边贸易提供咨询及协助。
据广和创始人童新介绍，尽管广和的许多客户在南美巴西有投资，但乌拉圭相对开放的投资环境及相对完善的法律制度，是他们选择在乌拉圭设立分所的主要原因。
根据中国国际贸易促进委员会的数据，今年上半年，中乌双边贸易额达８．６７亿美元，同比增长６１．７％。奇瑞、华为、中兴等中国企业已进军乌拉圭市场。
With the increasing trade between China and Latin America, Shenzhen-based Guanghe has become the first PRC firm to establish an office in Latin America. The firm has recently set up a branch in Uruguay, which is operated under the name Guanghe Sud-America.
The Uruguay office of Guanghe, led by partner Hu Xiaolin, will mainly focus on investment and immigration, and is in the process of hiring local lawyers.
"The initial idea of opening an office there is because more and more of my clients are interested in investing in South America, and two of my clients have already established pharmaceutical factories in Brazil, ” said Tong Xin (pictured), the founding partner of Guanghe. “After research, we finally chose Uruguay due to its relatively strong legal system and preferential polices for foreign investors.”
"At the same time, the operation cost and competition in Uruguay are lower than in Brazil,” said Tong. Currently, only very few foreign firms have offices in Uruguay while Brazil plays host to many international firms.
"With the increasing bilateral trade and cross-border investment between China and South American countries, I expect more PRC firms to set up in South America,” Tong said.
Since China and Uruguay established diplomatic relations in 1988, trade between China and Uruguay has been growing at a very fast pace. According to CCPIT, the China-Uruguay bilateral trade reached US$867m in June 2010, up 61.7% year-on-year. Chery Automobile, Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation have entered Uruguay market.
In addition to opening the Uruguay office, Guanghe has also launched offices in Beijing, Chengdu and Wuhan in the past year. It now has 350 lawyers across Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Zhuhai, New York and Uruguay offices. ALB
<Boxout>
*This table does not purport to be exhaustive
Related stories: