Paraguay agreed with Brazil to advance the talks on the revision of Annex C and leave a road map for the new government that will take office on August 15. Regarding the rate, the position is to maintain the current one and try to reach a consensus as soon as possible.
The Permanent Commission of the Congress finally had the opportunity to find out about the current situation in Itaipu Binacional, through the competent authorities: the entity’s director, Juan Manuel María Cáceres; Foreign Minister Julio Arriola and the head of ANDE, Félix Sosa.
Minister Julio Arriola reported that managed to meet with his counterpart Mauro Vieira in Brasilia, on the day of Lula Da Silva’s inauguration, as part of its mission to initiate negotiations with the new Government.
“We have agreed, based on conversations with Mauro Vieira (new Brazilian foreign minister), an introductory meeting in this regard in the coming weeks, to deal with many issues, because we have a very busy agenda with Brazil”, commented Arriola and maintained that Itaipu is one of them.
In fact, It was proposed to advance the start of the preparatory dialogue on Annex C and its review.
The minister announced that the objective is to leave a work plan for the Government that will take office on August 15. On the point, he said that after the general elections, it will probably already be known who the new chancellor will be and that by then, he will already talk to him.
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“We will work in coordination with the government that is going to come, there is no commitment that we can assume, We simply want to have a road map and leave everything organized so that when the new government arrives, we can advance on the path of the revision of Annex C.“, he claimed.
He recalled that both countries are forced to start the review on August 13, even though the date falls two days before the inauguration of a new president in Paraguay.
For his part, the director of Itaipu, Manuel María Cáceres, reiterated that there is no agreed rate and ratified the position that Paraguay will defend: maintain the current intermediate level of USD 20.75, contrary to what is indicated in Annex C, on a decrease with the fall in debt.
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“The debt is paid off next month, the component that came to be 65% of the income disappears, but we need to maintain a rate above what is established in Annex C”, said Cáceres.
He recognized that technically a decrease corresponds, but rrecalled that since 2003, Itaipu has adopted a social functionwhich has been implemented since 2004, with investment in necessary aspects such as electrical infrastructure.
Regarding the rate for this year, (the rate for 2022 took 8 months to define), he clarified that there is no unilateral imposition and he assured that a rate that suits both countries will be agreed upon. The 38.9% cut applied by Brazil applies to its market, but when an agreement is reached it must make up the difference.
In turn, the president of ANDE, Félix Sosa, presented the entity’s master plan, which contemplates various investments in the electrical system. He also exposed the needs of ANDE in terms of infrastructure. Expenses can be covered in part with the current rate.
