Intergovernmental Committee of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway (CIH) special meeting on tolls charged by Argentina on a stretch of the Paraná River

Under the Brazilian pro tempore presidency, a special meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway (CIH) was held today, September 27, at the Brazilian Embassy in Buenos Aires, with the aim of advancing negotiations on the dispute over the toll charged by Argentina, since the beginning of 2023, on international transport on a stretch of the Paraná river between the port of Santa Fé and the confluence with the Paraguay River.

Brazil convened the meeting under the scope of dispute settlement procedures set forth in the Additional Protocol to the Waterway Agreement and in the CIH's Internal Regulations. The Brazilian delegation included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Ports and Airports, the National Department of Transportation Infrastructure (DNIT), the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (ANTAq), the Brazilian Navy and the Federal Revenue Service.

Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, as signatory countries to the Waterway Agreement, question the toll charged in light of the procedures and standards established in that international instrument.

With a view to creating conditions for continuing negotiations between the countries, Argentina has agreed, as reflected in the minutes, to suspend for 60 days the court appeal for the collection of debts supposedly owed, through the interdiction of vessels of the other countries.