Panama & China: Negotiations this month on FTA

Posted on 2017-11-08

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela announced that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Panama and the Peoples Republic of China will begin negotiations in November this year, during his visit to the Asian country.

Varela stressed that during his trip to China he plans to sign with Chinese President Xi Jinping between 15 to 20 agreements, including an agreement of intent to negotiate the FTA.

"We are already negotiating (the FTA) we hope that on our next visit an agreement will be signed to negotiate the free trade agreement. We are very optimistic of this trip since it has raised a great interest China by this diplomatic relation with Panama ", expressed Varela.

The Panamanian president made the announcement after the Chinese's Chargé d'affaires Wang Weihua said in mid-September that negotiations for an FTA between the two countries could start in about a year, but that it had to be strengthened first trade between the two countries.

The president offered these statements during the inauguration of the Panama Maritime Forum, in the framework of the celebration of the one hundred years of the Panamanian shipping registry and parallel to the world maritime day, which was attended by more than 300 delegates from sixty countries, including the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (OMI), the Korean Kitack Lim.

Panama established diplomatic relations with China on June 13 and broke off relations with Taiwan.

Source: Panama Today