The preliminary negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Sovereign Order of Malta and Uruguay were carried out by a group led by Dr. Ignacio Zorrilla de San Martín with the President of the National Government Council, Dr. Washington Beltrán, and Councillor Dr. Alberto Abdala.

Uruguay formalized diplomatic ties through a Resolution of the National Government Council on April 1, 1965. The Grand Magistry of the Order of Malta consolidated diplomatic relations by appointing Amb. Dr. Manuel Río as Extraordinary Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary in December 1965, who presented his credentials on July 4, 1966.

The Counsellors and Chargés d’Affaires a.i. who have served at the Mission in Uruguay have been:

• Dr. Hugo Eguiluz Paullier (1965–1993)
• Eng. Bertrand Gruss (1993–1998)
• Mr. Pierre den Baas (2001–2003)
• Mr. Stanislas Lubomirski (2025–present)

At the same time as the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Uruguay, the Uruguayan Association of the Order of Malta was also founded.
From the beginning, both the Embassy and the Uruguayan Association, in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health of Uruguay, worked to combat Hansen’s disease (leprosy), which was definitively eradicated from the country in the 1990s.

The Embassy also contributed to the restoration and equipment of the “Pequeño Cottolengo de Don Orione” in Montevideo, in 1980.

That same year, the Postal Agreement between the Order and Uruguay was signed by Ambassador Umberto Ortolani and the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Julio César Lupinacci.
The Embassy’s main activities in Uruguay have consistently included supporting the Uruguayan Association in the importation of ambulances, medicines, medical supplies, and equipment, mainly for the Hansen Institute and the Don Orione Cottolengo.

In the 1990s, three mobile dental clinics were imported to provide dental care in remote areas of the departments of Paysandú, Tacuarembó, and Rivera. Later, in 2015, a fourth mobile unit was allocated, which currently operates in Municipality E of Montevideo, serving children from public schools within the jurisdiction of the local government.

The Embassy, in coordination with the Uruguayan Association, has also recently imported five containers of hospital equipment from Switzerland, destined for the Regional Hospital of Salto, the Don Orione Cottolengo, and the Priests’ Home and the Sisters of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

In its political and representative function, the Embassy always organizes a reception to celebrate June 24, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, its Patron Saint, as well as exhibitions to commemorate anniversaries of diplomatic relations with Uruguay—particularly the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp in 2006 and a philatelic and numismatic exhibition in 2016.

A new stage has now begun with the expansion of cooperation in the dental program, requested by the hospitals of Salto and Paysandú.