Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes today announced the agenda of her Asian tour, which will begin next week in China and continue in Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, countries with which Panama hopes to strengthen bilateral relations and promote investment.
The intense work trip of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which almost a year of preparation has been spent, includes meetings with her peers in the countries of destination and with high-level political authorities, to promote the attraction of investments in sectors that affect the growth of the Panamanian economy and the sustainable development of the country.
The four countries included in this work tour are strategic actors in the region, in which Panama turns its diplomatic efforts to identify new areas of rapprochement and articulation, in response to national interests.
“We are going to Asia with a robust country agenda, aimed at strengthening bloc relations, as a preponderant regional ally. Once again, Panama builds bridges and approaches new partners to establish growth and sustainable development projects. At this moment in which a new world order is developing, Panama positions its agenda and establishes interlocutors with different strategic blocs, ”said Minister Mouynes about her trip.
In China, where the official trip begins on April 4, Foreign Minister Mouynes will be received by a delegation led by her counterpart, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with whom she has already met virtually during the pandemic.
The Panamanian minister will be the first foreign minister in all of Latin America and the Caribbean to make an official visit to Foreign Minister Wang Yi since the pandemic was declared more than two years ago.
Within the framework of this visit, the Panamanian delegation will hold a technical meeting with the Chinese counterpart to study the certification process of local pork processing plants, which will facilitate trade between the two nations, key in global supply chains.
On April 5 and 6, the Minister and her delegation will travel to Vietnam, which provides the third nationality of the Panamanian merchant marine fleet, the largest in the world.
With almost 100 million inhabitants, Vietnam is the country in the area with the highest growth in purchasing power and has become the tenth largest trading partner of the United States, the Minister stressed to explain “the strategic value of forging links with countries that they position themselves as political and economic forces in the 21st century”.
According to the Minister, “Vietnam has become one of the most important players worldwide in the supply chain of agricultural products, processed foods and high technology and at this time when these flows have been affected, rapprochement is of importance. strategic”.
In Indonesia, where she will remain on April 7 and 8, Foreign Minister Mouynes will be received by her counterpart Retno Marsudi, who holds the Pro Tempore Presidency of the G-20. On May 3, Panama will host a high-level regional meeting that convenes foreign ministers from 20 countries in the area in which a common proposal is expected to be addressed to that influential forum, with specific proposals and needs for articulation.
Minister Mouynes’ Asian tour concludes in Singapore, with a two-day agenda, April 11 and 12, which includes an audience with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and diplomatic and cooperation work with Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
An important alliance will be formalized with the city-state, based on the consolidated political, geopolitical, and logistical coincidences that link both nations, and an agreement will be promoted between the technical training institutes of Panama and Singapore, which will include training, education, and training workshops. for Panamanian instructors.
In Singapore, Panama will focus on the operation of the National Research Foundation (NRF), a startup accelerator and technological hub that in just 15 years has generated the most successful investment ecosystem in Southeast Asia.
Upon her return to Panama, Minister Mouynes will offer a press conference with the results of her work tour to Asia.
In a second stage of this work tour, South Korea and Japan will be included, to comply with the 2022 strategic plan and the Asian focus presented at the beginning of the year.
