MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan and Argentine officials discuss gas pipeline project to feed Brazil

Argentina has surpassed Brazil as the main destination for Paraguayan exports, Ambassador Felip Salazar highlighted

Paraguayan Ambassador Helena Concepción Felip Salazar and Asunción's Vice-Minister of Mines and Energy Mauricio Bejarano met in Buenos Aires with Argentina's Energy Secretary María Tettamanti to advance discussions on a bioceanic gas pipeline project. The talks focused on drafting a memorandum of understanding and outlining steps for gas integration between the two nations.

 The proposed 1,050-km pipeline, with 530 km through Paraguay, aims to connect Argentina’s gas reserves to Brazil’s demand, requiring an estimated US$ 2 billion investment, with Paraguay needing $1 billion for its section.

The private sector was deemed crucial for infrastructure development to enhance energy security and regional benefits, the Paraguayan Embassy in Argentina reported on social media.

Ambassador Felip Salazar highlighted last week the good rapport between her country and private Argentine investors seeking to take “advantage of the comparative advantages we offer: macroeconomic stability, low tax burden, little bureaucracy, and special regimes within Mercosur.” She also pointed out that businessmen from the Argentine province of Tucumán “told me that they were able to open a company in just one day, with no setbacks.”

“A very important fact is that so far this year, Argentina has surpassed Brazil as the main destination for Paraguayan exports. Traditionally, Brazil was our first trading partner in terms of economic size, but this year it was reversed, and Argentina took the lead,” the diplomat also noted.

”Our objective is to diversify the trade balance. Today, it is concentrated in a few items: soybeans, which are strategic, and energy. But we seek to expand this matrix by adding sectors such as meat, with the recent authorization to export pork to Argentina, pharmaceuticals, Paraguayan sugar cane (a naturally fermented alcoholic beverage, similar to cachaça), and also items such as textiles,” she further explained in an interview with Ámbito.