President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said on Tuesday that Taiwan offered to assist with the Central American country's plan to widen the Panama Canal.
Chen made the remarks during a meeting with the Panamanian president-elect, Martin Torrijos, who was sworn in yesterday.
Chen said that trade between Taiwan and Panama hit US$140 million in the first six months after the FTA took effect on Jan. 1 this year, with Panama's exports to Taiwan increasing five times during the same period.
Chen said the amount has surpassed the total trade volume of last year, which he said shows that the FTA is very helpful to the development of bilateral trade and economic ties.
Taiwan enterprises now maintain investments worth US$1 billion in Panama, the president said.
In addition, Chen said Taiwan is willing to assist with Panama's plan to widen the Panama Canal because it is important to many Taiwanese businesses including Evergreen Marine Co and Yang Ming Marine Transport.
But Torrijos said the plan, which was one of his campaign promises, has yet to be finalized because of the controversial nature of the project.
Torrijos said a referendum might be held to let the people decide whether to go ahead with the expansion.
Chen on Tuesday also called for closer bilateral ties between Taiwan and Brazil, particularly in business and trade exchanges, while meeting with Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar unexpectedly on Tuesday evening at the same hotel where the two dignitaries were staying.
For his part, Alencar told Chen that he has for long had great admiration for Taiwan's democratization and economic prowess. Alencar said he has been told by Valdemar Costa, head of the Liberal Party of Brazil, who was with him at the hotel, that he came away with a high regard for Taiwan after visiting the country earlier this year.
Costa, the No. 2 Brazilian delegate to President-elect Martin Torrijos' inauguration, said he visited Taiwan in March of this year, prior to the country's presidential election and met with Chen. He said he was highly impressed with what he saw in Taiwan.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS