Argentina's Energy Secretary Flavia Royon said Wednesday that Paraguay had recognized her country's right to charge a fee (toll) to barges sailing along the Parana River Waterway and that the issue at this point was to discuss the price, for which a technical commission will be instated to assess the crossed claims between the neighboring countries for debts related to the Yacyretá Binational Entity (EBY).
A Paraguayan barge with fuel seized by Argentine authorities for failure to pay the toll on the Paraguay-Paraná River Waterway has been released after posting nearly US$ 30,000, it was reported.
Paraguay's Health Minister María Teresa Barán criticized the World Health Organization's (WHO) COVAX mechanism for distributing vaccines against Covid-19 worldwide and refused to accept the next batch from the global agency.
The Government of Paraguay announced Friday that it will be seeking an international arbitrage within the South American Common Market (Mercosur) to settle the dispute with Argentina over the charging of tolls to barges sailing through the Paraná River Waterway.
Citing security concerns and possible drug trafficking, Argentine authorities have upped their controls on Paraguayan barges sailing through the Paraná River, it was reported in Buenos Aires.
Paraguay's National Institute of Statistics (INE) Thursday released its preliminary conclusions on the country's latest census, whereby the entire population would amount to 6,109,644 people (3,078,994 are men and 3,030,650 are women), thus falling noticeably short of the 2015 projections that foresaw 7,453,695 inhabitants by 2022, it was reported in Asunción. A total of 2,109,864 dwellings were counted nationwide.
Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and Uruguay insisted Wednesday on their objections to Argentina collecting tolls on the Paraná River Waterway and demanded the latter to halt that practice until it demonstrates services effectively rendered to navigation justify the measure.
Paraguay's recently instated president, Santiago Peña said he will continue engaging in dialogue with Argentina to reach a resolution regarding toll charges on the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway. “We do not deny the option of toll charges, but it should be an agreement among the five countries that use the waterway,” he asserted.
Paraguayan banana exporters met Monday in Asunción with Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano to seek help from the government in order to collect the debt from Argentine buyers who are behind in their payments of some US$ 6 million, it was reported. The producers fear the problem might get worse if no action is taken.
Mercosur partners Paraguay and Brazil have agreed to exchange migratory information to strengthen bilateral security across mutual border crossings, it was reported in Asunción.