Asunción, Agencia IP.- Paraguayan authorities informed that a work table is going to be installed to find solutions to the issue raised about the waterway Paraguay – Paraná and the Binational Entity Yacyretá (EBY, by its acronym in Spanish), after a “positive meeting, with the predisposition of arranging agreements” with Argentinians authorities.
The Chancellor Rubén Ramírez and the Minister of Public Works and Communications, Claudia Centurión, received on Monday the Secretary of Energy of Argentina, Flavia Royón, accompanied by the President of the General Administration of Ports, José Beni; the Argentinian Director of EBY, Fernando de Vido, and the adviser from the Ministry of Economy, Raúl Pérez.
In a later statement, authorities affirmed that the details of the issues discussed will be kept confidential until the negotiations are completed. The Chancellor added that discussions and consults are initiated between the authorities of both countries.
The retinue was also integrated by the Vice-minister of Mines and Energy of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, Mauricio Bejarano; the Viceminister of Economic Relationships of the Chancellery, Patricia Frutos; the Director of Economical Resources, Osvaldo Ostertag; and the Paraguayan Financial Director of EBY, Federico Vergara.
Situation with Argentina
Last Friday, the President of the Republic, Santiago Peña, announced that a claim would be presented to the Tribunal of Arbitration of the Mercosur against Argentina for the breach of free navigation after the retention of Paraguayan barges, according to the orders of the General Administration of Ports.
The retention was ordered by the Paraguayan enterprises’ lack of payment of the toll Argentina sought on a section of the Paraguay-Paraná waterway. This measure was implemented this year, and Paraguay rejects it because it is considered unilateral and against the Waterway Treaty, signed by both countries plus Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay.
This Sunday, a conjunct release was signed by the four countries of the waterway, demanding Argentina’s reestablishment of the free navigability.
About the toll, the posture of Paraguay is that this fee is applied consensually between the five countries that share the waterway.
Debts with the EBY
Another point of dispute with Argentina is the lack of payment of US$ 150 million for the transferred energy from Paraguay in the hydroelectric of Yacyretá.
President Peña stated in an interview with Argentinian media this Sunday that “Paraguay retires little energy historically, as a gesture to Argentina to have bigger availability, knowing it has a significant energetic deficit”.
After the lack of commitment to pay the debts, Paraguay initiated the retirement of 100% of the energy that corresponded to it from the EBY, forcing Argentina to acquire supply at the highest prices in other electric systems.
Besides these measures, in a press conference on Friday, Peña stated that Paraguay will not consent to the following review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its agreement with Argentina, scheduled in November. Peña recalled that our country gave its “no objection” to the disbursement of US$ 7.5 billion, even though there were unfulfilled commitments with payments for energy from Yacyretá.
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