Paraguay and Russia are preparing a major framework agreement that endorses the strategic alliances of both states, called to develop bilateral cooperation, declared the president-elect of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benitez.
“That is what we want, that after August 15 the foreign ministers start working to develop a proposal for the agreement,” he said. That document should be prepared for his next visit, “but already official, as acting president,” he said, and will be called to “start the strategic alliance and endorse important agreements between these nations.”
In summarizing the results of his meeting with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, the president-elect of Paraguay highlighted in particular the historical nature of this meeting.
“It is the first time that a president of Paraguay and a president of the Russian Federation shook hands,” he said.
As regards the areas of cooperation , he highlighted, in particular, nuclear research, hydrocarbon prospecting, transport and the development of hydroelectric energy.
“We talked about the possibility of taking a scientific center to Paraguay,” he said, explaining the results of the meeting held with Putin on Thursday.
It would be, he said, ” a strategic alliance with Rosatom, “which can develop nuclear energy to improve agricultural production and in the area of Health.”
“We talked about the possibility of taking a scientific center to Paraguay,” he said.
Another area of cooperation, according to the president who will assume the leadership of Paraguay on August 15 is the prospecting of hydrocarbons .
“We know we have gas, that we have oil, but we do not know yet in what dimension,” he said, noting that “Gazprom’s experience can be very useful”.
This Russian consortium, specialized in the extraction and transfer of hydrocarbons, has already signed a memorandum with Paraguay.
“According to the data we have, Paraguay has enormous potential to develop hydrocarbon exploitation but we have not yet had enough technological support,” Abdo declared.
The president-elect explained to Putin the advantages that Paraguay offers to investors , from its situation in the heart of South America, to the “lower tax pressure in the region.”
In addition, the country has sufficient “renewable, cheap, accessible energy and sufficient human capital”.
“There are some Russian companies that are already talking with Paraguayan businessmen to develop industrial parks, in road works, in railway works,” he said. By when will be signed the great Russian-Paraguayan agreement “will depend on the agility of our foreign ministers. There are many agreements that have been signed in this government and what we want is to deepen them in the next time.”
Russian and Paraguayan authorities analyzed in Asunción the possibility of launching a nuclear research center in the South American country with Russian support and in coordination with Argentina’s nuclear program.
The meeting focused on the plans that must be approved by the Paraguayan Congress on the use of nuclear technology in areas such as health, which will improve the diagnosis of diseases such as cancer, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The meeting was attended by the Paraguayan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federico González, and representatives of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom ) for Latin America. At the meeting, which also involved the Russian Ambassador, Nikolai Tavdumadze, it was considered the possibility of expanding the scholarship program that both countries have since Paraguay will need trained human resources for the use of nuclear technology.
Finally, the Russian ambassador expressed the intentions of his country to continue cooperating with Paraguay in areas such as health, agriculture and livestock.
