Paraguay: Paraguay received today the pro tempore presidency of the Common Market of the South and the Associated States from the hands of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, to exercise it in the first half of 2022, Prensa Latina reports.
When intervening in the Summit of Heads of State of the regional bloc, held this Friday virtually, Paraguayan President Abdo Benítez stressed that in those six months they will develop a dynamic and proactive agenda.
He announced that emphasis will be placed on the review of the common external tariff, the implementation of Focem II with the signing of the Mercosur-Fonplata financial and technical complementation agreements, and on the improvement of border infrastructure and transportation.
In that sense, the head of state reported that next January he will meet with Bolsonaro to start up the bridge that will link the cities of Carmelo Peralta with Puerto Murtinho, in the context of the construction of the Bioceanic Corridor.
He added that Paraguay wishes to promote talks regarding the coordination of macroeconomic policies in Mercosur, while advancing in the application of the digital agenda and giving continuity to the tasks for the adaptation of the automotive sector to the Customs Union.
Benítez reaffirmed Paraguay’s commitment to continue participating actively in regional integration processes and asked to join forces through dialogue and tolerance in the face of divergences to move towards a real and effective relationship.
He highlighted that “Mercosur has multiplied trade between its partners more than 12 times in 30 years.
And in the case of Paraguay, it is its main trading partner, even in the midst of a pandemic, the bloc concentrated 64 percent of our exports and is responsible for 35 percent of our global trade”, he said.
For his part, Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo announced that the Paraguayan president will have an immediate agenda to meet in the first months of 2022 with his Mercosur peers to discuss the aforementioned issues.
“We are going to insist on the economic recovery of our region,” Acevedo said.
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