WASHINGTON - US and Paraguayan representatives held talks in Washington Saturday to shore up trade ties and extend an intellectual rights accord, US officials said.

"Today's meeting provided an opportunity for a productive exchange of ideas on how we can pursue increased economic opportunities between our countries," said Assistant Trade Representative Everett Eissenstat, who headed the US delegation.

The two countries, which maintained 1.7 billion dollars worth of bilateral trade in 2008, agreed to extend until 2011 a memorandum of understanding on protecting intellectual property rights.

At the meeting, they also created a working group to exchange information about small- and medium-sized firms in both the United States and Paraguay.

The first such bilateral meeting took place in 2004 and the last one was held in Asuncion in December 2007.

Deputy Economic and Integration Relations Minister Oscar Rodriguez led the Paraguayan mission.