Paraguay

• Wednesday, June 19th 2013 - 02:24 UTC

  Mercosur is ‘quite discredited’ and needs Paraguay back to ‘clean its image’

  

  Mercosur needs suspended Paraguay to return to the group because it has ‘to clean its image’ and because its international standing has fallen quite seriously, said a former Paraguayan ambassador suggesting Asuncion should not rush, since the initiative must come from Mercosur.

• Monday, June 17th 2013 - 16:07 UTC

  Paraguay president-elect will not be attending Mercosur summit in Montevideo

  

  Paraguay president-elect Horacio Cartes ratified he will not be attending the coming Mercosur summit scheduled to take place July 12 in Montevideo, confirmed one of his foreign policy advisors since the Paraguayan position remains that “Venezuela is not a full member of Mercosur because the Paraguayan congress by overwhelming majority rejected such option in August 2012”.

• Sunday, June 16th 2013 - 15:39 UTC

  ”Venezuela is not part of Mercosur; it was not ratified by Paraguayan congress”

  

  Venezuela “is not part of Mercosur, it was not ratified by the Paraguayan congress” according to one of the main foreign policy advisors of president elect Horacio Cartes who is scheduled to take office next August 15. Meanwhile Paraguay continues to advance it its intention of belonging to the Alliance of the Pacific.

• Thursday, June 13th 2013 - 23:49 UTC

  Paraguay and Mexico advancing towards an economic complementation accord

  

  Technical groups from Paraguay and Mexico advanced on Wednesday talks for the creation of an Economic complementation Accord in the framework of the Latam Integration Association, ALADI, which is considered the “step previous to a full free trade treaty”, reported from Asuncion Paraguay’s foreign ministry.

• Thursday, June 13th 2013 - 21:56 UTC

  Mercosur July 12 summit in Montevideo will confirm return of suspended Paraguay

  

  The next Mercosur summit scheduled for the end of June in Montevideo has been delayed until 12 July, announced Uruguayan Foreign minister Luis Almagro. The new date was agreed by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela earlier this week.

• Monday, June 10th 2013 - 14:02 UTC

  Paraguay soy exports reach 1.55bn dollars in first five months of 2013

  

  Soybeans, electricity and beef figure as the main export items of landlocked Paraguay, during the first five months of the year. According to a release from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, exports at the end of May reached 4,12bn dollars compared to 2.96bn a year ago, which represents a 57.3% increase.

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 08:08 UTC

  Paraguay was chosen to host OAS general assembly next year

  

  Paraguay will host the next Organization of American States, OAS, General Assembly scheduled for June 3 to 5 of 2014 in Asuncion. The decision by acclamation was taken on Thursday at the end of this year’s event in Guatemala.

• Wednesday, June 5th 2013 - 17:49 UTC

  Uruguay ‘can’t ignore (Mercosur) reality’ and is applying for full Pacific Alliance membership

  

  Vice-president and acting president Danilo Astori strongly defended the Uruguayan government’s intention of joining the Pacific Alliance, next to Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, claiming that Mercosur has fallen into a state of ‘inactivity’ but also rejected point blank statements from Brazilian diplomacy contrary to such a move.

• Tuesday, June 4th 2013 - 08:27 UTC

  Paraguayan inflation 0.2% in five months; economy poised to expand 13%

  

  Consumer prices in Paraguay dropped 0.3% during May which brings the accumulated five month inflation to 0.2%, reported the Central bank. The percentage is considerably lower than May a year ago when it reached 0.4% and had accumulated 3.2%. Twelve month inflation in May reached 0.9% which compares favourably with the 3.8% of a year ago

• Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 19:06 UTC

  Mercosur plan to delay summit and give time to Paraguay to return with full rights

  

  Paraguay is considering the announcement made by Uruguayan president Jose Mujica who suggested delaying the coming Mercosur summit in Montevideo scheduled for the end of June, ‘to wait and give time for Paraguay’ (currently suspended) to return to the block.