‘I am here to build bridges … Bharat News

This is your first visit to India as the President of Paraguay, which is Paraguay’s second President’s visit. How do you see India-Pargive relations today?

This is not the first time, and the last time it will not happen that the world is living in turbulent times. I think what we want to achieve from Paraguay is a lot that India wants to achieve, trying to preserve economic and military dominance through power … Trying to become more relevant on the world stage, through cooperation, through multiplicity.

We, in Paraguay, always refer to ourselves as an island surrounded by land.

Paraguay was a country that was very isolated, and not only in our region, but around the world. This is something that has changed … during my presidential post, I have spent a lot of time in the construction of bridges … I am coming again to New Delhi to build a bridge between India and South America. If I want to say in a row, I think as the drums of war are loud and loud, the horns of peace should still be loud.

What are the fields of discussion with you with Prime Minister Narendra Modi … How was your chemistry?

Chemistry was very good. I had a chance to meet him personally during the G20 Leaders Summit in Brazil last year … here in Delhi, he was kind, and I told that India has contributed so much to not only the world stage, but to the entire civilization. I see India not as a country, not as an continent, but as a civilization.

There is a lot of knowledge in Indian culture, and I say what India is capable of achieving, and very honestly, what I see is capable of building Prime Minister Modi – this is what I want – building bridges. I am trying to build a bridge in Latin America in all Latin America countries.

We were five centuries ago, the place that was uniting the South American region, when we were under the Spanish Crown colony, and 70 cities in South America were established by campaigns that led to our own capital. So we have the same feeling that we want to be the center of integration. We are hearts of South America. We want to unite the continent. So, in that regard, for me, coming here is a very important journey of the discovery or construction of bridges between our two areas.

What are the specific areas of cooperation?

India has a lot in the context of technology, what India has done in the context of digitization is great, and we think Paraguay may be a great partner in discovering these new techniques and testing these techniques in Latin America.

We also think that agricultural production is a large area of ​​cooperation in food production. Paraguay is a powerhouse. We are one of the world’s food baskets. We produce food for more than 100 million people, and we are only 6 million and we know that if we can combine agricultural technology with our means of production, we can expand agricultural production.

Pharmaceutical is one thing that India has played worldwide, and can be a great platform for paraguay production. One of the benefits of Paraguay is in the middle of South America.

You have access to the 400 million market, which is in all these countries in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Peru, America, and Paraguay has achieved the most competitive market (with) macro stability, political stability, economic growth, ease of business and a very pro-business environment.

India faced a terrorist attack in Kashmir in April this year, followed by four days of enmity between India and Pakistan. How do you see these events?

We immediately condemned the terrorist attacks … We have nominated Hamas and Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, and also as a terrorist organization with the Iranian National Guard. These are very strong stance. So our situation is that only those countries which have faced the results of war, know how difficult it is. We (deeply) have sympathy for India. We understand that India has faced enmity in this region for a long time. If it was not China in the past, it was Pakistan in the past, and now again. And, of course, India deserves all rights to protect their country and their people, and we are going to support it.

You attended the inauguration of US President Donald Trump at Washington DC. What do you think about the current administration?

Paraguay has been a good friend of America forever … Whoever was in the Oval office, we have maintained very good relations. But the truth is that relations between the White House and Latin America have been closer than the Democrats during the Republican administration.

Therefore, of course, President Biden being a Democrat, but is also a person who was not very keen to engage in an international agenda in general, but with Latin America … With the arrival of President Trump, it became clear that the relationship was going to improve. We now feel very optimistic.

How do you look at Trump’s tariff to apply, which leads to business war?

We understand that the Trump administration wants to reset international trade. We have a very strong approach about multilateralism. We believe that multilateralism is the best thing, but we think the system has been failing for some time, and it needs to be reset. In the process of resetting, there will be a lot of disturbance, and this is what we are seeing.

A lot of difficult conversations are going on, and ideas are still being exchanged with different countries. But in the end, I have no doubt that general knowledge will be strong and international trade will resume and with the relationships that are going to be strong.

You have been a student of Columbia University. How do you see the work of Trump Administration against the students of the university …

I think and I speak, of course, as a former foreign student in America, but I also speak as the father of a young woman who is studying in America. My daughter is a freshman at the University of Columbia, and I am following very closely, especially after the October 7 terrorist attacks and the conflict between Israel and Hamas. And then, I think in the name of preserving peace and tolerance, many protests went beyond the limits and put many foreign students at risk. So this is an issue that has been raised by the US government.

The anti-Jews is a real concern. My understanding is that the US administration is increasing the issue and has been asking for the cooperation of many institutions in addressing these sensitive issues. Again, speaking as a former foreign student, who went to the US to study, nothing more than studies, and I see, in many of these institutions, many of these students go there after requesting a visa to study, but then they are not spending their time in libraries or classes. They are spending their time to protest on most roads or campuses. And this was not the root reason why he decided to leave or the US decided to give a visa.

Visa is not an right to study in the US, it is a privilege that the US gives to come to its universities and study. And I have no doubt that anyone who wants to study there needs to follow the law, similarly, if a paraguayan comes here in India to study here, he will have to follow Indian rules and will not have to come here to harass the community.

A few days ago, Ukraine began a large -scale air attack on Russia using drones. How do you see it and what does it mean for peace in this field?

We have been a very strong voice since the onset of Russia and Ukraine conflict. Paraguay was the most developed nation in the 1800s, and we faced the war of destruction. Three countries surrounded us and declared war in 1864, so we faced the results of the attack. We faced the consequences of the war of war. So we raised our voice in protecting Ukraine. We condemned the attack from Russia, and our situation is always looking for peace. But in search of peace, we understand the right to rescue.

With the arrival of President Trump, we were very optimistic that it could be the beginning of the end of the struggle, and we have seen the huge attempt to talk to the President (Vladimir) Putin several times to talk to the President (Volodmi) Zelansky. And we are very sad that these conversations are not bringing peace in this region. Therefore, we are not fully happy what is happening, what we are seeing has increased, and we have no doubt that Russia will react to these recent attacks. We are not very happy. We hope that peace can be achieved and talks may start as soon as possible.

As a 46 -year -old President of a country, what is your message for young people?

With social media, a lot of information is flowing and most of this information sends wrong messages, encourages the opponents, and hates most of the time. My message is that the world is much better than what it sees on social media.

I encourage people to go out, engage, join. I was not trained as a politician. I decided to enter politics for my country to advance a big and bright future. So my request for the youth is to go out to pursue a better future. Do not collide with the negativity that always sees on social media. I can assure you that with any other event in the history of mankind, we are not only able to remain firm, but we are going to be strong. I have no doubt that we are going to be very successful in overcoming those challenges which are putting this era on us.