2020 placed a global challenge on us and each country had to face the constraints imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic in order to protect the health of its citizens and minimize the economic-social impact while searching for comprehensive solutions for an uncertain future.

With so many great unknowns yet to be solved, and sharing a common problem, each country is now going through a dynamic internal process of both containment and reactivation. And, at the same time, there is also an inevitable need to join forces with other nations in order to exchange and generate knowledge to help mitigating the impact of this pandemic.

To this end, international cooperation has been crucial in providing immediate assistance to countries in need. Technical cooperation was there and developed substantially through the exchange of experiences and good practices between countries in order to implement measures in the areas of public health, education, economy and technology, among others.

In the first half of this year, Paraguay held the pro tempore presidency of MERCOSUR. The planned work agenda had to be adapted to the circumstances and, in order to move on, about 150 videoconference meetings were held. On July 2, the Summit of Presidents of Member States and Associated States was held, in virtual mode and a summary of the efforts made was presented. On this very same occasion the Minister of Foreign Relations of Paraguay, Ambassador Antonio Rivas Palacios highlighted that “The pandemic did not stop MERCOSUR”.

During the Paraguayan presidency of MERCOSUR, one of the tasks was to prioritise the completion of pending tasks in order to enable MERCOSUR to move on and to sign agreements with the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) this year still.

It is worth highlighting that last January, the Foreign Ministers of Portugal and Paraguay held a meeting in the city of Brussels where both restated their strong support to the agreement between MERCOSUR and the European Union, reached in June 2019.

At the end of July 2020, Paraguay submitted the accession application as associate observer of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) aimed at increasing and deepening cooperation with the CPLP member countries in a number of areas; help strengthening multilateralism and collective work in favour of common interests and needs; encourage the rapprochement and cultural exchange with Portuguese-speaking countries; and promote the Portuguese language, the third most widely spoken in Paraguay, after Spanish and Guaraní. On September 24, the Paraguayan candidacy received the “green light” from the ambassadors of the nine member states, who favourably approved Paraguay’s request. The country may thus move on and follow the necessary steps in order for this to be approved at the Summit of Heads of State and Government.

In light of the above, it is worth highlighting that these actions in turn strengthen the existing bilateral relationship between countries, such as Paraguay and Portugal, as members of the MERCOSUR-EU blocks respectively, and in view of the possibility of accession of Paraguay as associate observer in the CPLP existing ties will thus be strengthened.

It is also worth highlighting the fact that, during the first semester of this year, Paraguay and Portugal signed a technical cooperation protocol for the development of the Portuguese Simplex Program, a program to streamline administrative procedures, thus becoming the first country in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) where this will be implemented with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Likewise, in June and July, two training courses were held by videoconference on religious and gastronomic tourism within the framework of the 2nd phase of the action plan signed between Paraguay and Portugal on tourism.

Under the current global trade conjuncture Paraguay wishes to position itself through the diversification of the markets it exports to, reinforcing also its potential as an investment destination in sectors where this country offers a great potential; strengthening the appeal of investments in specific sectors; improving job creation, technology transfer and foreign and national capital inflows to high potential sectors.

Diplomacy plays here a fundamental tool to continue the work started in 2019 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, which, under the motto “Economic Diplomacy for Development” has been implementing a number of actions through its network of embassies and consulates with the aim of disseminating the supply of export products, expanding its reach in the international market and promoting a globally beneficial commercial dynamics.

Paraguay restated that integration of countries is the best way to revive economies and productive systems. Joining efforts and finding joint solutions enables the implementation of actions to revitalize all sectors in a dynamic, favourable and sustainable manner.