“Paraguay National Day” at Expo Dubai 2020 will help connect our country with the UAE and the Arabian Gulf.
The “National Day of Paraguay at Expo Dubai 2020” will take place next Friday, March 4, at this universal exposition that takes place in the United Arab Emirates and brings together 192 countries. It will be attended by the President of the Republic, Mario Abdo Benítez, the highest Emirati political authorities and important Paraguayan and Arab businessmen.
President Abdo will hold bilateral meetings with the highest authorities of the Emirates, including His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rachid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; with Francesco La Camera, director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA);
President Abdo will also participate on Thursday, March 3, in the major activities being prepared within the framework of Paraguay’s national day, such as the Business Forum and the Paraguayan Meat Night, which will bring together more than 100 Emirati businessmen and the Arabian Gulf of the hotel sectors, restaurants, supermarkets and local distributors.
The trip and the participation of the Head of State is consistent with the Paraguayan foreign policy that seeks to expand, connect and position itself with countries and interlocutors with which there is usually no relationship and, particularly, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), considering that this country is an important hub in the Arabian Gulf region. In this sense, the opening of an embassy is being prepared shortly.
Paraguayan foreign policy, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is committed to increasing Paraguay’s presence in the Middle East, strengthening political dialogue, promoting cultural relations and increasing bilateral trade, as well as attracting investment.
In this sense, José Agüero Ávila, general commissioner of Paraguay for Expo Dubai 2020, highlighted the inter-institutional work and expressed that the presence of Paraguay in this universal exhibition is very important due to the potential it represents to connect us to the world and to position ourselves as a country leader in clean and renewable energy generation, food producer, located in a region with a huge freshwater reserve, with a culture and ancestral traditions that persist over time and arouse the admiration of the people.k
Since the opening of the Expo, on October 1, 2021, the Paraguayan Pavilion has developed numerous activities that have made possible a wide visibility of our country, in the economic, commercial, tourist and cultural artistic sectors.
Agüero Ávila recalled an anecdote when, on the first day of the exhibition, an Iraqi businessman appeared at the Paraguayan pavilion and mentioned that he was buying rice from Paraguay, but through intermediaries, and asked how he could do it directly. He was received and, immediately, they put him in contact with the Paraguayan Chamber of Rice. Currently he is already doing business directly with the supplier. “This example demonstrates the potential that this Expo has to connect us to the world and, especially, with actors or interlocutors with whom we usually do not do it”, he indicated.
