Dilma and Cartes discuss the return of Paraguay.

Danilo Macedo and Paulo Victor Chagas
Reporters from Agência Brasil

Brasilia - Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes, who took office less than two months ago, meets today (30) with President Dilma Rousseff to discuss trade relations with Brazil and the return to Mercosur, among other topics. Cartes will be received by Dilma, with honors befitting a head of state, on the ramp of the Planalto Palace at 11 am. The two presidents will hold the meeting in the presidential office, together with their teams. At 12:20 pm, Dilma and Cartes will make a statement to the press and then have lunch at a banquet offered to Cartes at the Itamaraty Palace.

Paraguay was suspended from the bloc between June 29, 2012, and July 12 of this year because the political leaders of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay disagreed with the way then-President Fernando Lugo was removed from power. impeachmentWith the electoral process and the election of Cartes, who took office on August 15, the suspension was lifted.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), the two countries will discuss the continuation of technical cooperation, border development, and issues related to infrastructure and initiatives to combat poverty. According to the Paraguayan government, negotiations for the European Union-Mercosur alliance and matters related to the Itaipu Binational Dam, built by the two countries and one of the largest in the world, should also be discussed.

After lunch at Itamaraty Palace, the Paraguayan president will also visit the heads of the other branches of government, going to the National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court. The presidential delegation is scheduled to return to Asunción at 21 pm today. After the banquet offered to Cartes, Dilma will receive the mayor of São Paulo, Fernando Haddad, at the Planalto Palace at 15 pm.