Paraguay's President keen to expand India-Mercosur trade agreement

Mumbai, Jun 4 (PI) Paraguay President Santiago Pena Palacios on Wednesday said he is hoping to expand the trade agreement between India and the Mercosur bloc.
     Speaking at the IMC Chamber of Commerce here, Palacios said both India and the South American nation, part of the four-nation bloc, have a lot to learn from each other.
     "We are very excited and hoping that we can resume the negotiation of the expansion of the free trade agreement between India and Mercosur," Palacios, who is on a three-day visit to India, said.
     He said such an agreement is a good opportunity for Indian companies and added that Paraguay can act as a gate or entrance for their entry into Latin America.
     It can be noted that India and the Mercosur bloc, which also includes Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, have had an FTA since 2009, and there have been attempts to expand the pact.
     Efforts to expand the scope of a preferential trade agreement between India and the Mercosur trade bloc have not been making much of a headway, as per a March 2025 media report.
     In light of this, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had then proposed that India and the four countries can sign bilateral pacts.
     "I propose either the Mercosur region decides if it wants to expand a PTA or we can look at doing it bilaterally," Goyal had said.
     Addressing a business summit at the IMC here, the 47-year-old Palacios said much of the investments in his country are domestically generated, and there is very little foreign direct investment.
     The country offers stable economic policies and, unlike some South American nations, has not seen any ideological shifts, he said.
     The debt-to-GDP component is also among the lowest in Paraguay, he said, adding that the tax rates are also very stable and low.
     Just like India, Paraguay also has a very young population, he said, adding that the country's rating was revised up by a global agency into the investment grade recently.
     He suggested that India and Paraguay can work together in the field of education, listing out efforts undertaken by the South American country having an overall population of 60 lakh in the field.
     Palacios, who arrived in the financial capital from New Delhi on Tuesday, met Maharashtra's Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and business leaders.
     In New Delhi, he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also President Draupadi Murmu.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)