Paraguay president to push Brazil on hydro energy

The Associated Press
Published: September 5, 2008

BRASILIA, Brazil: New Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo will use a visit to Brazil this month to push for negotiations on having Brazil to pay more for the energy from a dam on the two nations' border.
Paraguayan Foreign Minister Alejandro Hamed says Lugo's visit on September 17 is the right time to put the controversial bilateral issue "on the table."
Brazil pays US$400 million for the energy it gets from the Itaipu dam under terms of a 1974 treaty that Paraguay says is outdated. But Brazil says it won't change the treaty's terms.
Hamed also said Friday in a visit to Brazil that relations between the leftist Lugo and the United States are good and that Paraguay wants to tighten ties with Washington.