Environmental activists ended a protest of a UPM paper pulp factory on the Argentine-Uruguayan border on Saturday, opening up a bridge between the countries for the first time in three years.

The protestors did not achieve their goal of closing the Finnish factory on the Uruguayan side of the Uruguay river, but secured a promise that Argentina would also be able to regulate the plant. The environmentalists said the protest would be resumed if those promises were not fulfilled.

In April, the International Court of Justice in the Hague came down in favour of Uruguay in the long-running dispute, but criticized the government in Montevideo for hurting relations with Argentina by approving construction of the plant without consulting its neighbour. The Argentine side could not verify whether the plant built in 2007 some 300 kilometres north-west of Montevideo would considerably hurt the river and the environment. The plant has belonged to UPM since last year and claims higher environmental standards than most Argentinean cellulose factories.