The President of the Republic, Mario Abdo Benítez, considered that the establishment of a toll in the Argentine section of the Paraguay-Paraná waterway is not in line with the aspirations of the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) to have a common strategy to be more competitive.
Source: EFE
“Precisely what the region needs is greater competitiveness and this causes us to lose strength as a region”the government official told reporters in the department of Alto Paraná, when asked about a resolution of the Argentine Ministry of Transportation that provides for the application of the tax.
“I don’t think it’s in tune -he added- with what all the Mercosur countries and in the region are talking about, to have a common strategy to be increasingly competitive”.
In that sense, He anticipated that our country will defend its position against that decision.
During the LVI Meeting of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway Agreement Commission, which took place on Thursday, the Paraguayan delegation requested that the “for a period of 180 days” the measure, while waiting for the signatory countries of the River Transport Agreement through the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway to determine its scope.
Related note: Foreign Ministry rejects toll on the Argentine section of the Paraguay-Paraná waterway
The toll would affect the section of the Paraná River between the Port of Santa Fe (kilometer 590 of the waterway) and the confluence with the Paraguay River (kilometer 1,240).
The waterway is an important river corridor for Paraguay and its neighbors. In the case of Bolivia and Paraguay, which do not have access to the sea, this artery connects them with the Atlantic Ocean.
On the other hand, Abdo Benítez came out against versions about an alleged discomfort expressed by Buenos Aires to Asunción before an alleged presence of US military engineers in Paraguay.
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“I would even say frequent communication with President Alberto Fernández, with whom we built, apart from being colleagues, a friendship. And I did not receive any type of questioning from him, or from any member of his government, ”said the president.
He also admitted that He does not know what the versions of the military refer to in the waterway.
“There is a project that has been going on for almost I think 8, 9 years, based on an offer made by the US Corps of Engineers to do the design, not the intervention; that is simply what is done is a design of how we can intervene in the waterway to have a better flow”, he ratified.
In that context, affirmed that “no progress was made” and that the project has been under study in Congress for about eight yearswhen he was a senator.
