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 (
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 (
Yu was scheduled to attend the launch ceremony of the Panama chapter of the Alliance for the Democracy and Peace last night.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS