The newspaper highlighted Vietnam as a potential market for Paraguay's future trade, especially in terms of agricultural products such as soya beans and meat.

It cited Minister Gimenez as affirming at a meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien on May 24 that the visit aimed to promote and assist with a visit to his country made by a Vietnamese business delegation to step up co-operation and bilateral trade.

Paraguay is currently striving to seek and expand new markets for its soya beans, meat, as well as other products, especially with members of ASEAN as the market has over 700 million people, according to the official.

During the visit, Minister Gimenez also held working sessions with Vietnamese enterprises, including Viettel, a major telecommunications group based in Southeast Asia.

The Paraguayan Minister underlined the need to launch negotiations on a free trade agreement between the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and Vietnam. He stated that holding the rotating presidency of Mercosur in 2024, Paraguay will strongly promote this issue, ABC Color reported.

Paraguay is one of the nation’s 10 largest trade partners in Latin America, with bilateral trade topping US$280 million in 2023, a 22.2% increase on-year. The country primarily exports coffee, sports shoes, electric fans, rubber, bamboo and ranttan items, ceramic products, and apparel to Paraguay. In addition, it imports soya bean powder, beef and by-products, leather, and timber from the Southern American nation.