MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay seeks to become logistics hub for South America

“We want to extend logistics beyond Asunción,” Maluff explained

Paraguay last week launched the upcoming Expo Logistics 2025 to be held on June 11 and 12 at the South American Football Confederation facilities in Luque. At the event, the South American country will be positioning itself as a regional hub by leveraging its strategic location and enhancing its transportation infrastructure, Vice Minister of Trade and Services Rodrigo Maluff said while announcing initiatives to modernize the Paraguay-Paraná waterway to connect trade from Bolivia and Brazil’s Mato Grosso regions, reducing cargo transfer times to markets like Southeast Asia by up to 40%.

In addition, a new cargo terminal at Silvio Pettirossi airport is planned to improve international cargo handling, and regional railway projects are being explored to link Encarnación with export ports in Uruguay. These efforts aim to lower export costs and foster public-private collaboration, the official highlighted.

Expo Logistics 2025 will host over 130 companies from countries including China, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, featuring conferences, exhibitions, and business rounds.

“We are building the conditions for Paraguay to be a regional logistics bridge, and to be able to reduce cargo transfer times to markets such as Southeast Asia, especially Taiwan, by up to 40%,” Maluff said. “We want to extend logistics beyond Asunción,” he added.

“We are working on all logistics fronts to support the private sector and reduce export costs,” the official also pointed out.

Earlier last week, Maluff went to Lisbon for meetings with Paraguayan Ambassador to Portugal Raúl Silvero and Commercial Attaché Natalia Cáceres to visit the food processing company “Ramírez,” dedicated to canned tuna, sardines, salmon, and octopus, which has expressed its interest in expanding its business to Paraguay. Some of its products are already available in Ciudad del Este, it was explained.

Maluff pledged “to connect the representatives of the Portuguese Ramirez industry with Paraguayan industrialists interested in this great opportunity for industrial complementation.”