Brazil and Paraguay to hold July meeting on Paraguay River waterway concession

Brazil’s Ministry of Ports and Airports said on Monday (6) that its technical team will meet with Paraguayan officials later this month to advance talks on the planned concession auction for the Paraguay River waterway.

Because the waterway crosses areas of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, all three countries need to agree before the auction can move forward.

“Both sides reaffirmed their mutual interest in continuing the concession process and agreed to hold a new technical meeting at the end of this month to advance the discussions,” the ministry said in a statement sent to Broadcast, Grupo Estado’s real-time news service and a CNN Money content partner.

A bilateral meeting was held last week during the 68th Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur and Associated States in Asunción, Paraguay.

After the technical negotiations are concluded and the necessary adjustments to the project are defined, the Brazilian government plans to move ahead with the regulatory and administrative steps that precede publication of the tender notice. It would be Brazil’s first waterway concession auction.

Under the official schedule presented in May by the National Secretariat of Waterways and Navigation, the concession notice for the waterway is expected to be published in the second half of 2026, while the auction was planned for the first half of 2027.

Ports and Airports Minister Tomé Franca said in late June that the government aims to launch the tender notice between the second half of this year and early 2027. He stressed, however, that the timeline depends on progress in negotiations with Paraguay and Bolivia.

The initiative is being treated by the government as one of the most important projects in Brazil’s waterway agenda. It could also open the way for new concession models focused on managing inland navigation infrastructure in the country.

Source: CNN Brasil

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