asuncion economist santiago pena was sworn in on tuesday as paraguays president promising to build alliances and show firm and ethical leadership for the next five years after his april election victory pena took the presidential oath outside asuncions government palace in a solemn ceremony attended by south american leaders the king of spain and taiwans vice president william lai paraguay is one of the few remaining countries in the world that retains formal diplomatic ties with the selfgoverned island claimed by china we will build alliances and cooperation with a geostrategic vision the president said in his inaugural speech adding that paraguays relationship with taiwan is an example of this and of paraguays friendly and cooperative spirit with nations pena 44 secured a solid election victory in april and replaces mario abdo benitez both are from the conservative colorado party which has dominated paraguayan politics for the last threequarters of a century santi as he is often known has pledged businessfriendly policies focused on job creation low taxes and attracting foreign investment he has withstood pressure to stick with paraguays decadeslong diplomatic ties with taiwan success is making all paraguayans better off the president said on tuesday it is time for a pact to achieve the quality of life that paraguayan families deserve