PARAGUAY: NEW MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASUNCION 000734 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC, EB/IFD/OIA, AND INR-B STATE PASS TO USAID FOR LAC/AA STATE PASS TO USTR FOR SCRONIN AND LYANG NSC FOR KIM BREIER TREASURY FOR OSIA MAUREEN WAFER TREASURY FOR OTA WARFIELD, VAN KOCH, MILLAR COMMERCE FOR ITA SARAH COOK SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2015 TAGS: PGOV PREL PA SUBJECT: PARAGUAY: NEW MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE RAUL VERA BOGADO BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F. KEANE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (U) Biographic information of the new Minister of Industry and Commerce, Raul Vera Bogado. ¶2. (U) In late May 2005, President Duarte appointed technocrat Raul Vera as the Minister of Industry and Commerce, replacing Ernst Bergen, the new Minister of Finance. Before his appointment as Minister, Vera served most notably as the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay from May 2001-November 2002. As President of the Central Bank, Vera performed duties as Governor for Paraguay at the International Monetary Fund, a Member of the National Council of Economic Policies, and a Member of the Common Market Council of MERCOSUR. ¶3. (U) Vera worked in the Dominican Republic with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from 2003-2005, as a National Consultant for financial intermediation issues, and as Director of GADES (Advisory Group for Sustainable Development). He occupied several high-ranking career positions at the Central Bank as Manager of the Economic Research Area in May 1997, and Director of the Department of International Economics, in 1995. ¶4. (C) Vera, viewed as a reformer, resigned as Central Bank president as a matter of principle citing differences and a lack of support by then-President Gonzalez Macchi. He is a close associate of present Ambassador to the United States and former Minister of Finance, James Spalding. Also a technocrat, Spalding resigned from his position within the Ministry within days of Vera over similar problems with the Gonzalez Macchi administration. ¶5. (U) Vera attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated with a Masters Degree of Science in Policy Economics in December 1994. He was born on January 30, 1967, and speaks Spanish and English. KEANE