Paraguay and Brazil highlight bilateral trade and cooperation in security areas

According to a joint statement released Thursday, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and his Paraguayan counterpart Julio Cesar Arriola reiterated the commitment to promote bilateral trade and deepen cooperation in security areas.

The document came out during Vieira’s first official visit to Paraguay as the new Brazilian foreign minister when he met with President Mario Abdo Benítez.

Both foreign ministers stressed the importance of bilateral trade and the potential to expand it, considering that Brazil is the first destination of Paraguayan exports.

They also highlighted cooperation in different areas of security, the fight against transnational crime, technical and humanitarian matters, development cooperation, and the joint execution of infrastructure works on common borders.

Arriola said in a press conference that the visit of his Brazilian counterpart is an unmistakable sign of the excellent relations between their countries, which are developed in a framework of respect, openness, and cooperation.

Regarding the binational dialogue for the revision of Annex C of the Itaipu Treaty and the electricity tariff, Arriola expressed the predisposition of the current government to work with the incoming government, which should start working in August of this year.

He added that they talked about the importance of the completion of the Integration Bridge and the beginning of the works of the Bioceanic Road Corridor and about the possibility of a meeting between both presidents in the area to verify the results.

“We are sure that, with this first meeting, we will strengthen a new stage of friendship, cooperation, integration, and Paraguayan-Brazilian complementarity for the benefit of both peoples”, highlighted Arriola.

For his part, Vieira expressed that his country’s relationship with the region has returned to the center of its foreign policy, for which reason they view with expectation Brazil’s return to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), as well as a timely resumption of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) to contribute to the efforts of greater coordination and regional integration.

In the area of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), he highlighted the bilateral support for the strengthening of the bloc that his country would preside in the second half of the year and the ratification by both countries of the respect for the founding texts, as well as the joint progress in the early signing of the agreement with the European Union.

With information from Xinhua

More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.