My personal relationship with China is practically a lifelong link. I was born in 1958, back then, as a child, I used to go to my father's bookstore, when I was growing up, and I was already entertaining myself by reading Chinese children's stories, such as The Old Man Who Moved the Mountain or Pilgrimage to the West.

And in 1975, when I was 17, I came with my family to China and there begins my direct relationship with China. And from 1977 until now I still have a Chinese relationship, and all my professional life has been related to China.

The best memory I have of my years in China were my years at Tsinghua University. I was there for five years，and I can say that those were for my “most Chinese years”, if I’m allowed to say it like that. The books were in Chinese, the exams were in Chinese, we played football all afternoon, we had a football team, and those were the happiest years I spent in China

For me the change is the most important part of these 70 years of which I have a direct relationship of 44 years, but in these 44 years the most relevant thing for me has been the change in people's lives in all aspects. Transportation is getting better in any city, Metro transportation is getting better, and bus transport is getting better, more and more people do tourism within China, the change, the improvement of people's lives in all aspects especially compared to the years in which I was here.

The richest person in China in those years had a bicycle, a wrist watch, a sewing machine and a radio, those were the four most luxurious things a citizen of this country could have. But the most important thing without any doubt is the improvement in all conditions.

I could talk about this for a long time, I am no economist, and I am not a politics expert either。But in the end I think that if we had to sum all this up in one word. It is a consequence of the policy of reforms and openness abroad, if we had to summarize it.

Well my son was here from a very young age, until he was five years old he lived in China, then when he was 18 or 19 he made a trip to China, my niece was in December last year in China, she was born in China. I think she is the only Uruguayan with an identity card that says “place of birth: China” And now she is studying Chinese. So I think, and I wish that this special relationship with China would continue to be passed on from generation to generation.