A bipartisan delegation from the United States Congress led by Representative (Deputy) Stephanie Murphy (Democrat, for the state of Florida) of the Committee on Armed Services of the United States House of Representatives, touring countries in the hemisphere, is on an official visit to Asunción, Paraguay. The purpose of the visit is to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation between the United States and Paraguay on security and defense issues.
Julio Arriola, National Foreign Minister, provided a few words about the meeting. The meeting with the congressmen lasted less than an hour and included the participation of Mario Abdo Benítez, President of the Republic, Federico González, Minister of the Interior, Julio César Arriola, National Foreign Minister, Hernán Huttemann, Chief of Civil Cabinet of the Presidency, José Antonio Dos Santos, Paraguayan ambassador to the United States and Carmen Marín, executive secretary of the Presidency Management Unit.
“With the congressmen we discuss issues related to strengthening the common agenda we have with them. Bilateral aid and cooperation in security and defense matters. Also on the meat market, the access of Paraguayan meat, a process that is very advanced. They promised to advance the process of entry of Paraguayan meat. They are going to help streamline the process,” he commented.
In addition, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine was addressed and how this negatively affects meat exports to Russia, considering that they represent our second largest buyers. “There was also talk of infrastructure works in Paraguay for the benefit of the entire population, and of connections with Brazil and Argentina. Another important issue is that we are producers of 100% natural, renewable and clean energy. Mention was made of Itaipú, Yacyretá and Acaray and future projects”, he commented.
Finally, Abdo asked the congressmen to send the invitation to Biden so that he can visit our country. Because if he agrees he will be the first US president to visit Paraguay officially. “We talked about many topics, Abdo explained in detail about relations with the United States, we talked about organized crime and about strengthening democratic institutions. Those were the core issues,” he explained.
These statements by Arriola did not give rise to questions from the communicators. Taking into account that the interest was focused on knowing if there would be a new list of significantly corrupt or how the congressmen saw the attempted removal of Sandra Quiñónez, attorney general of the State.
Representative Murphy was accompanied by the following members of the delegation: Representative Kathleen Rice (Democrat-New York), Committee on Homeland Security, US House of Representatives, Representative Mark Green, (Republican-Tennessee), Committee on Armed Services, US House of Representatives. And Representative Kurt Schrader (Democrat-Oregon), Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C), US House of Representatives.
