Asunción, Agencia IP.- The binational dams Itaipu and Yacyreta, shared with Brazil and Argentina, respectively, pose a challenge to Paraguay to continue generating sustainable energy to meet growing demand and establish long-term agreements with its partners to ensure that the power plants become a factor for development.
This was expressed on past Sunday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, during his participation in a television program.
Regarding Itaipu, the Minister pointed out that the challenge is «how to make this asset a generator of development among our countries,» with a vision for the next 50 years.
He noted that President Santiago Peña’s government is approaching current negotiations with Brazil with this vision, which are «complex and difficult,» as he acknowledged.
He emphasized that there is a shared vision between Brazil and Paraguay that the binational hydroelectric plant must be a factor for development for both parties, but admitted divergences regarding the tariff that should be established.
«Once the tariff is defined, which we will soon reach an agreement on because technical work is advanced, we have to think about the Annex C and the coming years of how we are going to use our energy generated by the binational entity,» he said.
Regarding Yacyreta, he pointed out that «it is a greater challenge,» as the financial equation still needs to be resolved to make it sustainable and from there, undertake other joint projects between Paraguay and Argentina.
«Our consumption increases between 8 and 12% per year, which means we need genuine investments in energy generation, even though we have not yet solved distribution problems. We also have to think about generation,» he said.
In that sense, he indicated that once the financial equation of the entity is resolved, strong efforts will be made to promote new energy projects such as Corpus and the Aña Cua, which are already in full mechanization.
Greater physical integration with Argentina
The Foreign Affairs Minister dedicated specific reflection to the intense agenda with Argentina and the joint projects on the table.
In this regard, he mentioned that navigation has been a fundamental element of integration, differences, and convergences in the historical relations between Paraguay and Argentina. «3,200 km of navigable river requires us to have shared plans,» he said.
On that topic, he mentioned the «necessary connection points to resolve bottlenecks in border transit,» such as the projected bridges between Clorinda and Puerto Falcón, Pilar-Puerto Cano, and ferry crossings among other border points.
«Our physical integration is extremely limited,» affirmed the Minister concerning Argentina.