LatinNews Daily - 20 October 2023

* Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez has announced that a meeting will take place on 26 October to begin the renegotiation of a key part of the Itaipú Treaty between Paraguay and Brazil, which governs the management of the giant binational hydroelectric complex of the same name. Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will lead the meeting at Brazil’s mining and energy ministry in Brasília to renegotiate ‘Annex C’ – the financial arrangements of the dam’s operations, which establishes that each country owns 50% of the power generated by Itaipú and can sell the balance back to the other at preferential prices. The Paraguayan and Brazilian directors at the hydroelectric complex, Justo Zacarías Irún and Enio Verri respectively, will also be present at the meeting. President Peña is under pressure to obtain better terms for Paraguay, particularly with relation to the sale of its surplus energy produced at Itaipú which is sold to Brazil at low prices. However, Brazil is unlikely to be willing to agree to an increase in the price of Paraguay’s surplus energy, which would lead to higher energy tariffs for consumers.