Paraguay’s industry minister highlights energy and forestry as magnets for foreign investment

Paraguay is presenting energy and forestry as two of its strongest opportunities for foreign investors, according to Industry and Commerce Minister Marco Riquelme.

Speaking at a business luncheon organized by Uruguay’s Association of Marketing Directors, Riquelme described changes to Paraguay’s electricity sector. A new law, he said, “de-monopolizes” power generation by allowing private companies to produce electricity and sell it to the national grid or large consumers.

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For us, as a country, it is sacrilege to export logs instead of industrialized wood.

The minister said companies with experience in long-term contracts for energy projects, including batteries and solar panels, could benefit from the changes. He also cited a proposed bioceanic gas pipeline that could connect gas from Argentina’s Vaca Muerta formation to Brazil through Paraguay’s Chaco region. He valued the potential project at about $10 billion.

Forestry offers another opportunity, Riquelme said. Eucalyptus reaches maturity in Paraguay in roughly seven years, and about 100,000 hectares are ready for processing. But the country lacks enough industry to turn the timber into exportable products. “For us, as a country, it is sacrilege to export logs instead of industrialized wood,” he said.

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Paraguay without Brazil, without Argentina, without Uruguay has no reason to exist, and we need the bloc to become stronger.

Riquelme also pointed to incentives for companies importing raw materials from outside Mercosur, including Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay, saying they could gain a competitive advantage by industrializing in Paraguay. He praised Uruguay’s experience in financial, accounting and forestry services, which Paraguay could use in its own development.

The minister called for a change in Mercosur’s approach, with greater trust and fewer disputes among members. “Paraguay without Brazil, without Argentina, without Uruguay has no reason to exist, and we need the bloc to become stronger. Only through integration will we be able to develop industrially,” he said.

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Only through integration will we be able to develop industrially.