Paraguay must survive Brazil and Argentina that often act unfairly with us. While Argentina goes against the free navigation of the rivers and applies a toll to the passage of product barges, Brazil lowers Itaipu’s energy rate. Both decisions without consultation with our government.
Pedro Ferreira stated that for a country to be respected, it must have moral authority.
“We have the brilliant opportunity to elect in 2023, a Congress that has sufficient moral authority so that they are respected first by their peoples and then by their neighbors. If we introduce money laundering, smuggling, any issue that affects moral authority, they make countries lose respect for you.”
He pointed out that in the case of the waterway, a strong position is needed on the part of our country as a Mediterranean country.
“It is an international river where there is freedom of use. They put a restriction for the output of our products. Unless we agree a low value for the Paraguayan flags. But for that we must have moral authority, ”he commented.
FERREIRA
The economist Amilcar Ferreira affirmed that the Foreign Ministry has a major challenge and has to deploy all its capacity to defend Paraguayan interests.
“The rate reduction was a decision by Jair Bolsonaro, a few days after leaving the Government. Now with Lula there are conditions to open a dialogue table. Beyond the favorable decision, there are good expectations with the assumption of the new president, ”he said.
He affirmed that they are decisions that other countries make, for which reason he reduced the responsibility of the Foreign Ministry of our country in these situations.
TOMASSONE
Sonia Tomassone, advisor to the Paraguayan Chamber of Oilseed Exporters and Marketers (Capeco), pointed out that this is a situation that occurs repeatedly with neighboring countries, but there are mechanisms at the international level that can help as dispute resolution.
“Small countries like Paraguay suffer this type of unilateral action by certain countries and the solutions take time and their economic consequences until an agreement is reached,” he concluded.
On Tuesday morning, in relation to the toll, a meeting was held at the Chancellery where users of the Waterway participated. National authorities reported that they took actions to avoid the implementation of the tax and next week there could be news.
