Argentina, Paraguay ink accord on agricultural duties

Argentina and Paraguay signed an agreement Friday to jointly investigate duty rates on agricultural exports, Argentina's tax authorities said. The accord was inked by Ricardo Echegaray, chief of the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) of Argentina, and Marta Gonzalez Ayala, Paraguay's deputy secretary of state for taxation. It "aims to maintain the existing good relations between the two tax administrations, tackle the challenges of modernizing each, and develop technical cooperation in the search for better practices," the AFIP said in a press release. Under the agreement, the two agencies will work together to implement a new law in Argentina that applies a value added tax to agricultural goods. "Exchanging information and management practices in the area of shipping costs will allow us to be more precise when analyzing the profitability of the agricultural export sector and the taxes paid on profits," Echegaray said. Both Argentina and Paraguay are members of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), a regional trade bloc that also includes Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela.