The president of Paraguay maintained that “Mercosur does not stop” and that there is “a strong desire for integration between the region.”
The Paraguayan president Santiago Pena visited Uruguay after the meeting with the president Luis Lacalle Pou in the northern country, and referred to the present of Mercosur – European Union (EU) agreement in his role as pro tempore president of the regional bloc: “We have been waiting for our European brothers for 25 years, so I think the message is very clear: Mercosur does not stop, we continue to advance and we have a strong vocation for integration between the region,” he said.
Peña arrived in the country on Friday morning after a packed agenda the day before in Assumption, which included a meeting of agreements with Lacalle Pou and progress regarding the organization of the World Cup 2030 with Conmebol and FIFA, while calls continue for the centenary of the tournament to be played entirely in South American countries —Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina-; where, for now, only the opening matches will take place.
In dialogue with Telemundo upon his arrival, the Paraguayan president pointed out that “both the position of Paraguay like the Uruguay It is very similar, opening up to the world, signing free trade agreements.” In June, it will be Lacalle Pou who receives the pro tempore presidency from Peña to continue the path of flexibility of the bloc for which he found an ally in the president who took office in his country in August of last year.
In this regard, he recalled that the South American multilateral organization signed a free trade agreement with Singapore and now they are moving forward with a treaty with Arab Emirates, for which they expect a favorable result during the next meeting of the bloc, in Asunción. But he also referred, especially to the Mercosur-EU agreementwhich was about to be definitively signed in December 2023 but, due to differences between France and Brazil —and fierce opposition from the first—did not have an outcome.
“We have been waiting for our European brothers for 25 years, so I think the message is very clear: Mercosur does not stop, we continue to advance and we have a strong vocation for integration between the region,” he considered.
“We have the great challenge of Mercosur with more than 30 years and Uruguay was one of the great protagonists in the signing of the Treaty of Asuncion in the year ’91. We believe that the Mercosur inward but also outward,” he concluded.
A good relationship with Lacalle Pou
Likewise, Peña highlighted the good relationship he has with Lacalle Pou, with whom he shares “a very similar vision of integration for our region and that helps a lot in the dialogue.”
On Thursday the leaders held a meeting in Asunción with the Mercosur, drug trafficking and trade as the main issues on the bilateral agenda between both countries. Regarding the first, they maintained the importance of the economic, commercial, political, social and cultural agenda of the bloc for the benefit of both Uruguay like Paraguay, and they agreed once again on “the need to advance in the improvement of the free trade area and promote better international insertion”; a topic that Lacalle Pou has promoted throughout his mandate and that, with the inauguration of President Peña last year, he has another ally.
Also river operations, both in the Port of Montevideo —which operates as a transit terminal for Paraguayan foreign trade— as in the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway It was another topic of conversation. While, regarding the drug trafficking, The presidents “ratified the decision to continue cooperating and deepen the frontal fight against transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, illicit arms trafficking and other related crimes, which threaten the peace and security” of the population.
Source: Ambito
