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Taiwan, Panama may sign FTA

Taiwan may soon sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with Panama, as Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Panama President Mireya Elisa Moscoso both pledged to speed up the consultation process.

Yu, who is on an 11-day trip to four of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Central America and the Carribean, arrived in Panama on Thursday afternoon. He was scheduled to sign the joint consultation statement of the FTA with Panama's Second Vice President, Dominador Kaiser Bazan yesterday afternoon.

If all goes well, Panama will become the first among Taiwan's Central and South American allies to sign such a pact since Taiwan's accession to the WTO on Jan. 1 this year.

During the national banquet held on Thursday night, both Yu and Moscoso expressed their wishes to sign such an accord.

"In addition to expressing the most sincere gratitude to the Panama government and its people on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the ROC government, I'd like to help push for the signing of the free trade agreement with Panama," Yu said.

Moscoso said that she herself would also like to see the signing of the FTA become reality as soon as possible.

"It's the common goal of the two countries to cooperate economically and politically," Moscoso said. "Different cultures and languages shouldn't be a problem for our mutual understanding and support for each other."

The fact that Taiwan and Panama may forge a FTA should come as no surprise because the two countries have been holding a series of negotiations to discuss the matter over the past few months.

The negotiations reached a climax on June 17, when Meliton Arrocha, vice minister of foreign trade in Panama, arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit to hold talks with officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs on the possibilities of forging such an accord.

It was the first negotiation on free-trade-zone issues for the two countries since May 1999. Talks were put on hold while Taiwan sought entry into the WTO.

Statistics show that it would be to the advantage of Panama to sign the free-trade accord.

While Panama sold some US$4 million worth of goods to Taiwan last year, Taiwan exported US$128 million worth of products to Panama, 95 percent of which went to the Colon Free Trade Zone.

Panama's trade with China and Hong Kong amounted to US$1.6 billion last year. The amount of Taiwanese investments has accumulated to over US$252 billion since 1974.

Panama's government has been aggressively expanding the trade and economic web in the region since Moscoso took office in September 1999.

In addition to Taiwan, Panama is seeking to sign FTA's with other countries in Central America, including El Salvador and Mexico.

Meanwhile, despite the call of China's trade office in Panama to boycott Yu's visit, Chinese Panamanians gave the premier a warm welcome on Thursday night.

Waving ROC and Panamanian flags in the rain, about 20 Chinese-Panamanian community leaders and students from a Chinese elementary school gathered outside the hotel where Yu is staying.

"Our presence here doesn't at all have anything to do with the `one country on each side' of the Taiwan Strait statement. We're here simply to welcome the premier of the ROC," said Guierllmore John (章辭修), chairman of the Chinese Association in Panama.

According to Chang, President Chen Shui-bian's controversial statement has caused quite a stir in the Chinese Panamanian community.

Liu Tzu-fa (劉自發), deputy representative of China's trade office in Panama, has called on Chinese Panamanians to boycott Yu's visit and any welcome or dining activities, Chen added.

Yu was scheduled to attend the launch ceremony of the Panama chapter of the Alliance for the Democracy and Peace last night.
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