Taiwan’s last South American ally would consider Chinese investment to develop its nascent green hydrogen industry as it seeks to become a regional fertilizer supplier, Paraguayan Minister of Finance Carlos Fernandez said.
Paraguay has ample supplies of the two key ingredients needed to produce green hydrogen — water and renewable power from two massive hydroelectric dams — that can be further processed into synthetic fuels and fertilizers.
“I’m open to talking to any entrepreneur from China who wants to invest and create jobs in Paraguay,” Fernandez said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “It’s not a question of China versus Taiwan. We are open to everyone.”
Photo: AFP
China has steadily picked off Taipei’s diplomatic allies in Latin America, with Honduras switching ties this year. Beijing is now a top trading partner of many countries in the region and a major investor in mining, agriculture and infrastructure.
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena, who started his five-year term last month, has said he would maintain the alliance with Taiwan that dates to 1957.
The Pena administration wants to diversify Paraguay’s US$43 billion economy that is heavily dependent on soy and meat exports by developing green hydrogen and expanding a manufacture-for-export industry that shipped goods worth more than US$1 billion last year.
Fernandez said that Chinese investment is displacing the US and Europe in Latin America.
“The US could play a bigger role on economic investment in the whole region and not only Paraguay,” he said. “Otherwise someone else will take its place.”
Fernandez said he expects the Central Bank of Paraguay to continue lowering borrowing costs after last month’s 0.25-point cut to its benchmark interest rate.
“We are in a different cycle from the US and Europe, because we already have inflation converging around 3 percent,” he said.
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