
The Argentine Government of President Javier Milei Wednesday declared the tender for the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway - which handles 80% of the country's exports and is also vital for Paraguay - concession void and launched an investigation into the only bidders: Dredging Environmental and Marine Engineering (DEME) for allegedly pressuring other potential bidders not to participate. The National Commission for the Defense of Competition will look into possible anti-competitive practices or an illicit association, it was explained.

Argentina's Administrative Investigations Prosecutor’s Office (PIA) has identified “serious irregularities” in the bidding process for the concession of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway, a crucial trade corridor for the region. The waterway is essential for exporting agricultural products from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay to the Atlantic.

Taipei's Embassy in Asunción confirmed this week that Paraguay's pork exports to Taiwan grew by 108% last year, thus grabbing an 87% share of the South American country's shipments of the product, yielding revenues around US$ 29 million.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be touring Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile between February 28 and March 8, it was announced Monday in Berlin. The head of state will attend Yamandú Orsi's inauguration in Montevideo on March 1. He is also scheduled to meet with Paraguay's Santiago Peña and Chile's Gabriel Boric Font.

Paraguay's National Directorate of Tax Revenues (DNIT) announced Tuesday that collection last month far exceeded expectations after posting a 9.1% yoy improvement. A DNIT report mentioned raking in ₲ 3.19 trillion (around US$ 405 million), which represented US$ 33.9 million more than in the same month of 2024.

Paraguay's Central Bank (BCP) has picked up the glove from US President Donald Trump's barrage of protectionist economic measures and spoke of higher financing costs among the possible consequences of the Republican leader's policies. In addition, the US dollar would keep its upward trend against the guarani amid global uncertainty. Hence, there would be no room for a reduction in benchmark interest rates.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña Friday underlined the importance of trade openness and multilateralism during his speech at the World Trade Organization's (WTO) headquarters in Geneva. Peña highlighted “the importance of global integration to strengthen trade and resilience in the face of uncertainty,” the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIC) said in a statement.

Switzerland's Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Helen Budlinger told Paraguayan President Santiago Peña that her country was interested in expanding businesses with Asunción and with all of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). She made those remarks Thursday as she welcomed Peña to the non-European Union nation which thus covets a separate Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

As controversial US Ambassador Marc Ostfield completed his assignment in Asunción, the US diplomatic mission was left temporarily under Chargé d'Affairs Amir Masliyah -who has been Deputy Mission Chief since July 2022.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña met Sunday in Washington DC with Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, whom many believed should have been sworn in on Jan. 10 last after winning the controversial July 28, 2024, elections where the incumbent Nicolás Maduro claimed to have prevailed despite producing no evidence thereto besides declarations from offices controlled by the Chavista regime.