MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay and Brazil agree on data exchange to expedite border crossings

Accessing this information in real-time will allow us to filter people, Villate explained

Mercosur partners Paraguay and Brazil have agreed to exchange migratory information to strengthen bilateral security across mutual border crossings, it was reported in Asunción.

The understanding was reached during a meeting between the heads of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (Mitic) and the National Directorate of Migration (DNM) of Paraguay and representatives of the Federal Police of Brazil.

On behalf of Brazil, the meeting was attended by Brazilian Federal Police Attaché Richard Murad Macedo and Deputy Attaché Alexandre Mees, in addition to the secretary of the Brazilian Embassy in Asunción Nero Cunha Ferreira.

Paraguay's Information Minister Gustavo Villate said in a press conference that the first thing to be done was to achieve the integration of the information in due time and form of the migratory base of the two countries.

Among the information to be exchanged between both nations is real-time access to the database of people who are wanted in Brazil in order to rule out that they try to enter Paraguay and vice versa, Villate also explained.

“Brazil has alerts of wanted persons and those alerts are in the public domain. Accessing this information in real-time will allow us to filter people when they are passing through our border. This work will be done without disturbing the people who come to the country to trade or vacation,” he pointed out while highlighting that his ministry has the necessary technological infrastructure to carry out the information exchange with the Brazilian Federal Police.

Migrations Director Jorge Kronawetter said that the new modality would be applied in all the border posts such as those existing in Ciudad del Este (Alto Paraná), Salto del Guairá (Canindeyú), and Pedro Juan Caballero (Amambay), among others. (Source: Xinhua)