After having reached an understanding with Brazil, Paraguay next month plans to begin negotiations with Argentina to claim better conditions for the power generated from the Yaciretá dam which both countries share.
The Brazilian presidency advisor in international affairs Marco Aurelio García said that the agreement between Brazil and Paraguay regarding the surplus power from the shared Itaipú hydroelectric dam (operationally the largest in the world) is “most important” and helps to normalize bilateral relations.
Brazil and Paraguay agreed over the weekend on an amicable solution to a decade long dispute over a hydro-electric dam on their shared border, with Brazil agreeing to triple the amount it pays its neighbour for energy.
European Union Foreign Relations Commissar, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Monday that the Spanish presidency of the European Union in 2010 “should be a good moment and opportunity” to resume the stalled discussions of the European block with Mercosur.
Brazil will allow Paraguay to openly sell to Brazilian energy distributing companies its surplus share of the power generated by the Itaipú dam, the largest of its kind in the Americas.
This coming week’s Mercosur presidential summit in Paraguay will convene eight South American leaders, announced Paraguayan Foreign Affairs minister Hector Lacognata during a press conference Saturday in Asuncion.
The approval of the new composition for the Mercosur Parliament scheduled to be agreed later this month at the group’s presidential summit in Paraguay could be postponed given conflicting interests on supra-national decisions.
A Paraguayan delegation of government officials and private sector representatives will be travelling to China in the near future to begin conversations for the formal establishment of trade relations with Beijing, announced the country’s Foreign Affairs minister Hector Lacognata.
Mercosur asymmetries in power generation are overwhelming and almost absurd, with Paraguay the main power exporter in South America unable to dispose of its energy surplus, claimed Ricardo Canese, member of the Mercosur Parliament in representation of Paraguay.
Mercosur Foreign Affairs and Economy ministers will be meeting Tuesday in Asuncion, Paraguay in the framework of the Common Market Group to discuss trade barriers and try to unwind several issues.