After a year without the formal appointment of a Vice Minister of Commerce, Rodrigo Maluff recently assumed the vacant portfolio of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) and stressed the need to continue promoting the country's logistics competitiveness. He also stressed that the focus of his department is on the "manufacturing of services" or turning the country into a platform for exporting them, which he considered represents more than US$ 1,000 million in opportunities.
Following the departure of Óscar Stark for the Paraguayan Communications Company (Copaco), a year passed before President Santiago Peña formally appointed a new Vice Minister of Commerce: Rodrigo Maluff, who previously served as head of the Investment and Export Network (rediex).
In an interview with local media outlet ABC, Maluff stressed that his new role entails specific challenges, such as continuing to work on improving the country's logistics competitiveness, which involves making the most of existing trade agreements and eliminating unnecessary barriers and bureaucratic fees.
“We have to be the axis that is always focused on reducing times that do not add value and digitalizing or eliminating bureaucratic processes. Of course, another axis is transparency. The citizen must be informed of the processes and procedures of marketing and service provision. Thus, the survey and generation of data will also be crucial,” he added.
GREAT POTENTIAL FOR EXPORTING SERVICES
Among the sectors with the greatest potential to boost trade, the vice minister highlighted how the services segment can become an export platform, with opportunities of more than US$ 1 billion in terms of software generation, outsourcing of business services and more.
“The region is now providing services to the world and we believe that Paraguay can be part of it,” he added.
He stressed that the country can not only manufacture goods, but also services.
“For every 70,000 jobs in the sector, there are approximately US$1 billion in export opportunities. It also involves real estate development for the offices that the sector requires, which could be crucial to revitalize the historic centers of Asunción, Ciudad del Este and more,” he added.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TRADE AGREEMENTS AND CONQUER MARKETS
In addition to promoting sectors such as services, Maluff referred to the need to make the most of current trade agreements and highlighted the fundamental role played by the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) in achieving commercial "fluidity" of goods, products and more.
"We are going to promote all policies that lead to a common market, whether it is to eliminate taxes that make the different regions of Mercosur uncompetitive or to share positive experiences," he explained.
Regarding the conquest of new markets, he assured that the focus of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is on the “landing in the Asia Pacific region”, where there are destinations of great interest such as the Philippines or Malaysia. According to him, the challenge will be to achieve the opening from the sanitary point of view for the export of food, but also of other national goods and services.
He added that they are working together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to define where to set up a diplomatic mission, which would allow the installation of MIC commercial agents in the Asian region.
"It is a market with 700 million people who, by themselves, can consume everything that Paraguay produces," he said.
TRADE WINDOW WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION
The Vice Minister of Trade also analysed the window of opportunity that has opened for Paraguay with the end of negotiations on the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.
“Apart from being the market that pays the most, because it is demanding, we believe that trade with the European Union can mean the boost of industries that Paraguay already has. We are green and sustainable producers and that will be the space to compete in a market that demands, seeks and wants sustainable products,” he said.
Although he assured that outside the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, Paraguay has opportunities to open carbon credit markets. “Paraguay has great potential to export environmental services to the world,” he said.
He said that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will also have a leading role, and that is why, together with the Vice Ministry of MSMEs, they are promoting negotiations with universal postal services that could mean lower logistics costs for the export of products manufactured by MSMEs.
BIOFUELS
Among the challenges of his new role, Maluff will also have the task of promoting the biofuels industry. Since this year, the new and controversial Law No. 7357 has been in force, which modifies articles 7 and 11 of Law No. 5444/2015, “On the promotion of consumption of absolute alcohol and fuel alcohol.”
The regulations establish the implementation as a public policy to promote the national industry that, starting in 2025, gasoline with less than 97 octane must contain at least 30% anhydrous alcohol (ethanol), and by 2030, that percentage must be at least 32% anhydrous alcohol.
In this regard, Maluff mentioned that "the law increases the use of biofuels in the mix as part of a policy to achieve energy independence in Paraguay and demonstrate that biofuels can be produced in the Paraguayan countryside, with a
industrialized production matrix”.
He recalled that, with the regulations, the ethanol mixture in gasoline will go from 25% to 30%, in an upward trend that he considered will persist in the coming years, replicating what happens at the regional level.
He acknowledged that the biofuel industry still faces major challenges, such as achieving traceability of its raw materials in order to increase exports.
