PANAMA BLOG. www.daudlawyers.com

Panamanian president meets UAE FM on ties

2009-10-08T05:50:00.000-07:00

Source: http://www.presidencia.gob.pa/ver_nodo.php?cod=468

http://www.chinaview.cn/index.htm 2009-10-07 10:21:50

PANAMA CITY, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli met on Tuesday with foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to discuss issues of bilateral interest.

Martinelli and Sheik Abdullah Bin Zayed talked about investment, trade and banking cooperation as well as the friendship between the two countries, the Press Ministry said in a statement.

Panamanian Vice Foreign Minister Meliton Arrocha said the meeting was an excellent opportunity to exchange views on the ties between Latin America and the Middle East.

According to Arrocha, the talks also promoted Panama's logistic and banking sector.

Bin Zayed arrived here on Monday from Nicaragua together with Interior Minister Reem Al Hashimy and Vice Economy Minister KhalidAl Gaith.

Is Latin America Moving to the Right?

2009-09-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, left, and Brazilian President Inácio Lula da Silva, right, illustrate the growing right-leaning trend in Latin America. Martinelli, a conservative, defeated his center-left opponent in elections earlier this year, while leftist Lula's approval rating remains high but his recently announced chosen successor trails the opposition in polls.

By Stephanie Miller September 24, 2009

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/09/latin_america_right.html

Nearly half a decade ago the dominant political story in Latin America was the growing strength of leftist movements, often called the “rise of the left,” and a string of electoral victories by left-leaning candidates throughout the region. But now that the region is entering a new wave of presidential and parliamentary elections, the scales may be tipping away from the leftist trend as a significant number of polls show conservative candidates leading in several countries where a leftist president is currently in power. There have also already been conservative electoral victories in several countries where there were formerly either left-leaning presidents or majorities in congress.

These latest developments may suggest a general trend in the region that can be linked to the global economic crisis’ impact on Latin America. But politicians and analysts of the region should also be asking whether the winners of the elections will address the region’s problems, which go beyond ideology and the global downturn.

The economic crisis that began in 2008 has spread to nearly every corner of the globe, and Latin America has not been immune. One of the economic crisis’ main effects on the region is a reduction in remittances sent there from workers in industrialized countries. After receiving nearly $70 billion in remittances in 2008, a recent study projects that the region will receive only $62 billion in 2009.

And even though the region as a whole was much more prepared to handle the effects of the crisis after six consecutive years of positive economic growth, the global economic recession resulted in a sharp decline in demand for the region’s main exports, such as oil, soy, and copper, leading to higher unemployment. After maintaining a regional gross domestic product growth rate of 4.2 percent in 2008, Latin America’s growth rate is expected to fall to -1.9 percent in 2009 with unemployment levels reaching 9 percent.

It’s still not clear whether what looks like an unfolding right-leaning trend in Latin American politics is the region’s response to the global economic crisis, and a survey of recent elections and polls doesn’t give conclusive results.

On the one hand you have the recent presidential election in Panama and parliamentary elections in Argentina, in which opposition conservative candidates defeated their competitors.

On May 3 of this year Ricardo Martinelli defeated the former President Martín Torrijos's chosen successor―former Housing Minister Balbina Herrera―taking nearly 60 percent of the popular vote. Martinelli campaigned on a platform emphasizing the need to battle rising public insecurity and provide business solutions to the challenges posed by the global economic crisis that began in 2008.

In Argentina recent parliamentary elections dealt a blow to left-leaning President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the ruling Peronist Party, which lost seats in both houses of congress. Largely viewed as a referendum on Fernández de Kirchner’s government, the Peronist party was defeated in Argentina’s five largest provinces and Fernández de Kirchner’s husband—former president Néstor Kirchner—lost the battle for a congressional seat in Buenos Aires. The government has lost considerable support for having nationalized the country’s pension system and for tax increases levied on farm exporters during the global economic downturn, which led to four months of protests and road blockades.

Then there are cases like Brazil and Chile, where left-leaning presidents are still very popular, yet current polling for upcoming presidential elections shows that opposition and more conservative-leaning candidates are in the lead. In Chile socialist President Michelle Bachelet enjoys a 73 percent rate of approval. Yet current polling for the upcoming presidential elections in December 2009 shows conservative opposition candidate Sebastián Piñera leading Bachelet’s chosen successor, former President Eduardo Frei, by nearly 10 percentage points.

Leftist Brazilian President Inácio Lula da Silva’s approval rating remains above 75 percent and is among the highest in the region. Yet similar to the situation in Chile, Lula’s recently announced chosen successor, Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff, trails São Paulo State Governor Jose Serra, an opposition candidate, by nearly 20 points. Brazil’s 2010 presidential elections remain a year away―plenty of time for Rousseff to close the gap in voter preference―but the fact that an opposition candidate is currently polling so strongly even as Lula remains widely popular is noteworthy.

And then there is the case of Mexico, where the conservative ruling party, the Partido Acción Nacional, or PAN, lost the midterm parliamentary elections held recently in July 2009 to the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI―a more centrist or left-leaning party than the PAN. Mexico has been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis due to its proximity and economic interdependence with the United States. Even though a host of factors are influencing Mexico’s electoral politics—such as high rates of public insecurity and violence due to the presence of powerful drug trafficking organizations—Mexico’s poor economic performance during the last year clearly had an impact on electoral results.

The takeaway for Latin America’s politicians and analysts is that keeping tabs on whether conservative-leaning or left-leaning candidates win this next round of elections is secondary to whether the winners of these electoral contests provide solutions to the region’s problems, which apart from the economic crisis’ effects include corruption, inequality, institutional weakness, and rising public insecurity.

If the ruling parties and governments do not or have not sufficiently addressed the full range of issues by the time the next election cycle begins—rather than focusing only on the economic situation today—we may see an electoral response that favors opposition candidates throughout the region, regardless of ideology.

As long as the democratic process unfolds in each country in a clear and transparent manner, hopefully the dominant political story of this next round of elections won’t be another rendition of “the rise of the left” or the “return of the right,” but rather will focus on how the new governments will deliver on their promise for a better future for Latin America’s people.

Stephanie Miller is currently a consultant on U.S.-Latin America relations and was formerly the Research Associate for the Americas Project at the Center.

Panama: so much more than hats and a canal

2009-09-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/x-20090-SF-Girlfriend-Getaways-Examiner~y2009m9d27-Panana-so-much-more-than-hats-and-a-canal-pt2

Janice Nieder
SF Girlfriend Getaways Examiner

Why Panama?

Because hiding in that skinny little isthmus is one sorely under-appreciated Latin American country that is poised to explode as 2010’s hottest new Latin American travel destination. It offers something for travelers of every ilk, starting with a rich history, jam-packed with colorful tales of famous explorers, Spanish conquistadors, pirates and smugglers, bloody wars, slavery rebellions, all leading up to one of the world’s most extraordinary engineering achievements... the building of the Panama Canal.

As for natural beauty, Panama’s got it going on. Flanked by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, there are miles of sandy beaches that are perfect for surfing, fishing and scuba diving; cool lush mountains just waiting to be climbed and biked, cloud and rainforests that will tempt the adventurer, and hundreds of gorgeous remote islands. (Calvin Klein and Playboy have both done model shoots here.) Cosmopolitan skyscrapers are just minutes away from steamy jungles teeming with wildlife. Crumbling colonial buildings are being transformed into edgy restaurants and boutique hotels. There is no shortage of vibrant markets, fashionable shopping malls, nightclubs, and luxury spas. About the only thing I didn't find in Panama were swarms of tourists.

After spending four days there last month, I highly recommend Panama as a unique, fun-filled, surprisingly safe, Girlfriend Gateway choice. (There were just a few sketchy run-down neighborhoods en route to Casco Viejo, which can be easily avoided by taking a taxi here.)

Day One

Checking out Panama City

Since I was visiting during the rainy season I expected Panama City to be unbearably hot and humid, and rainy, natch, but actually it wasn't bad at all. The warm precipitation seemed to freshen up the city and the sun would always shine brightly moments later. Plus, you can score some stellar hotel deals during the off- season.

Morning:

I awoke totally refreshed after a peaceful night’s sleep at the Country Inn and Suites. At first I questioned the choice of this rather generic hotel situated far from the hustle bustle of town, but it turned out to be a super location. My balcony had a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean, dotted with boats bobbing under the soaring Bridge of the Americas, as they waited their turn to cross the canal. Country Inn sits at the beginning of the new Amador Causeway, formerly a U.S. military base, which juts out between the canal and Panama Bay and was formed from rocks excavated from the channel. This primo piece of real estate connects three small islands with a popular walking/jogging/biking path (plenty of bike rental shops nearby) that filled nightly with romantic couples taking full advantage of the glittering skyline backdrop.

Big Surprise:

A five minute jog down the causeway brings you to a startling tangle of dramatic beams, plaster and wire which is the result of four years work building the Bridge of Life Biodiversity Museum designed by Frank Gehry.

I spoke to the head engineer, who shook his head ruefully as he shared, “It’s the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on, as well as the biggest pain in the ass! Even Gehry’s simplest components turn into complex nightmares.”

He then proudly informed me that Gehry was married to a Panamanian woman. He hopes the iconic building will be finished next year and then this amazing accomplishment will provide an astonishing opening view for arriving cruise ships.

Head into town:

After a brisk, wake-up stroll, start your city tour by exploring the ruins of Panamá Viejo, the oldest capital in the Americas. This original 1519 Spanish settlement, sprawling over 57 acres, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stop in at the Visitor's Center and Museum for a thorough historical background and then climb Cathedral Tower for the money-shot outlook.

Time for Shopping:

Conveniently located next to the visitor’s center, the Mercado Nacional de Artesania, offers quality handmade crafts gathered from all over the country. Popular gift items include reverse appliqué stitched Molas sewn by the Kuna Indian women (these make good prezzies for teenagers who like to sew them on their backpacks), tiny ivory-like figures painstakingly carved from a tagua nut and intricately designed woven baskets, some are even tight enough to hold water.

PANAMA CORPORATIONS ADVANTAGES

2009-09-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

• Panama does not have tax information exchange agreements with other countries.

• Panama is planning to negotiate Double Tax Treaties to prevent double taxation.

• Panama Corporation Law has not been changed since it became effective in 1927.

• Law number 32 of February 26, 1927 (“Corporation Law”) expresses that two or more persons, of any nationality, even though not domiciled in the Republic of Panama, may form a corporation for any lawful purpose.

• In the practice, two nominee members incorporate the corporation.

• The articles of association is notarized and duly registered in the Public Registry of Panama.

• The Board of Directors must be composed of at least three different (3) members.

• Corporate entities from any jurisdiction, can act as directors.

• The corporation should have at least the following officers: President, Treasurer and Secretary.

• Corporate entities from any jurisdiction, can act as officers (President, Secretary and Treasurer).

• Nominee directors and officers can be appointed.

• Change of directors and officers needs to be filed in the Public Registry of Panama.

• No paid-in capital is required.

• No minimum or maximum capital requirements.

• Corporation can issue shares without nominal value.

• A connection between the paid-in capital and the value of the corporation assets is not required; The par value of the shares does not essentially correspond to the book value of the corporation.

• The shares of the corporation may be issued in nominative form or to the bearer.

• Flexible transfer of shares. Bear shares are transferred by delivery of the certificate. No filling is required in the Public Registry of Panama.

• The name of the shareholders of the corporation is confidential. The name of the shareholder is not public information. • No requirements to disclose ownership. The structure is confidential.

• Ownership may reside in a single individual or corporations and no part of the capital needs to be held by a Panamanian.

• A single person may be the owner of all the shares of the corporation.

• Shareholders, Directors and Officers are not required to be nationals or residents of the Republic of Panama.

• Corporate entities can act as shareholders and directors.

• Neither the Directors nor the officers are required to be shareholders.

• No requirement to hold annual meetings.

• Meetings may be held outside the Republic of Panama.

• Shareholders and Directors may attend meetings personally, by proxy, by phone or any electronic means.

• The corporation may execute in favor of one or more individuals a broad Power-of-Attorney to operate the company.

• The shareholder registry and minutes of the company can be kept in any part of the word.

• There is not restriction of the objects of the Panamanian corporation.

• Panamanian Corporations may conduct legal businesses all around the world.

• Income generated by Panamanian Corporations outside the Panamanian Territory is tax exempted.

• Corporation will only pay taxes on income from profitable activities within the territory of Panama.

• No need to file financial reports or tax returns in Panama if the company does not operate in Panama.

• Panama Corporations have to pay an annual tax of US$300.00.

• Panama corporations can be transferred to any jurisdiction.

• No restrictions on Mergers & Acquisitions.

• Every corporation ought to have a resident agent in the Republic of Panama.

• The resident agent is a Panamanian lawyer or law firm.

• KYC (Know your client) rules needs to be followed by lawyers before incorporating.

Air cargo shippers may show interest in Panama too

2009-09-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/blog/930000493/post/1980048998.html

September 17, 2009

While the Canal expansion is getting most of the ink, Panama is also wooing U.S. air cargo shippers.As a consequence, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a $258,000 grant to Gulf Coast International Cargo Panama S.A. to help conduct a feasibility study on the construction of an air cargo facility with cold storage capability at Tocumen International Airport.

U.S. companies may compete for the USTDA-funded study through the Federal Business Opportunities web site. Gulf Coast Panama will select the company.

“At present, few air cargo facilities in Latin America and the Caribbean have cold storage capacity, which hampers the region's ability to develop international markets for its perishable products and contributes to the region's food insecurity,”

USTDA said. Gulf Coast Panama, a private cargo and distribution firm, proposed to build a 2,330-square-meter air cargo facility at Tocumen that would include a refrigerated storage area for perishable goods.

USTDA spokesmen said the study will provide Gulf Coast Panama with a market analysis, an assessment of facility requirements, a financial plan, and both developmental and environmental impact analyses, all of which are needed to order to move to project implementation.

Posted by Patrick Burnson on September 17, 2009

Free internet is on its way

2009-09-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

STAFF periodistas@laestrella.com.pa

PANAMA. The contract to bring free internet to the entire country, particularly low-income families, has been awarded to Liberty Technology Corp at a cost of $25. 5 million.

According to Liberty’s proposal, the 512kbps, 24-hour-a-day, wide band, 7 day a week wireless “Wi-Fi” and “Wimax” service should be up and running by the second week of October.

One of the promises of president Ricardo Martinelli during his election campaign was that people would have free access to internet within the first 100 days of his administration.

The free access points that will be set up in the first phase of the project will target numerous public areas including parks, tourist sites, schools, libraries, universities, hospitals and health centers in Penonome, Colon, David, Chitre, Las Tablas, Pese, Arraijan, La Chorrera, Santiago, Sona and the capital city.

In the second phase, public access sites in Meteti, Bugaba, Aguadulce, Chepigana, Ocu, Los Santos, Capira, Chame, Chepo and San Miguelito, Bocas del Toro and Changuinola will be put on line.

The second phase should be completed by 18 January 2010.

Liberty Technology Corp. will limit access to certain government-specified sites, including those involving pornography, “peer to peer“, gambling, downloading music and videos, and others.

The project entitled National Network for Universal Access is run out of the government’s Innovations Office.

The initial implementation costs will be $6.9 million, with an additional monthly fee of $310,000. Liberty Technologies Corp was founded in 2003.

Pope Benedict receives invitation to visit Panama

2009-09-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17088

Vatican City, Sep 11, 2009 / 10:51 am (CNA).- After a visit to the grave of Pope John Paul II on Thursday afternoon, President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal of Panama met this morning with Pope Benedict XVI and extended him an invitation to visit his country.

The meeting with Benedict XVI took place at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandalfo, just outside of Rome.

The audience involved a discussion of the current international and regional situation.

"Attention also focused on certain aspects of the situation in Panama itself, in particular on the social policies launched by the government, development projects for the country, and collaboration between Church and State with a view to promoting Christian values and the common good," a statement from the Vatican press office said.

At the end of their conversation, President Martinelli invited the Holy Father to visit Panama.
Pope John Paul II’s visit to the country in 1983 was the last time a Pontiff spent time there.

ISLAMIC FINANCE

2009-08-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

Screening companies for Haram, or forbidden, activities is becoming more and more sophisticated, says Zaineb Sefiani at BMB Islamic

http://www.funds-europe.com/July-2009/INSIDE-VIEW-Islamic-finance/menu-id-228.html

Sharia-compliant investment management is concerned with investments in assets that are in compliance with Islamic law. An Islamic investor is not allowed to invest in companies that derive most of their revenue from non-Sharia-compliant business activities, or that use interest in operating or financing their business. In the context of investing in equities, screening for Sharia compliance is ensured using two main screens: business activities and financial ratios.

The first level is business activity screening, or sectoral screening, in which companies are filtered out if they derive more than a certain percentage (usually 5%) of their business activities from one of the sectors forbidden by Islamic law. The outright forbidden (Haram) trading sectors include pork, alcohol, gambling, interest-based banking and finance, tobacco, pornography and similar unethical activities.

The process of implementing de facto Haram is not straightforward, as we need to look at all the business activities involved in the value chain. In the case of an industry sector, this would mean from the production of a raw material, to the delivery of the final product.

It would be interesting to take one non-Sharia-compliant business activity, and analyse the entire value chain. If we take the example of alcoholic beverages, a company whose core activity includes producing wine, spirits and beer, such as Diageo, would naturally be screened out of any Sharia-compliant investment universe. Large pub-owning companies such as Scottish and Newcastle will also automatically be classified as Haram. At the logistics stage such as a company that delivers barrels to pubs and bars, there is a strict Sharia requirement to exclude these companies as well. In general, Sharia rules against any business activity that is directly or indirectly involved in Haram businesses. The 5% threshold is applied at any stage of the value chain. If for example, there is sufficient information to believe that a company produces aluminium cans solely for beer canning, this company should be screened out. The same rule applies to aluminium producers themselves.

Ethical investing

On the other hand, the screening process for companies operating in weaponry, advertising and media is less straightforward. While not overtly forbidden under Sharia law, these sectors are in effect filtered out on a moral and ethical basis. Investment in weaponry is permissible in Sharia law if the underlying motive is defensive in nature, and as long as there is no potential collateral damage. However, due to the subjectivity of differentiating what constitutes legitimate defence, contemporary Sharia opinion has opted to exclude this sector all together.

More recently, a top European ethical fund manager, in collaboration with BMB Islamic, has worked on a new investment approach that genuinely integrates ethical and faith-based investment strategies. This is an interesting example that adds a new layer to the traditional sectoral screening process. In addition to the traditional filters mentioned earlier, there is a positive screening process whereby companies are selected if they make a positive contribution to society and encourage good management practice of sustainable issues.

It is easy to see that this approach makes the stock selection process much more complex. Equally, in terms of negative screening, companies that have, for example, a high involvement in animal exploitation, nuclear power generation, poor relations with employees, customers or suppliers would come at the top of the Sharia screen list. The positive screening seeks out investment in companies that are involved in providing basic necessities to life, such as offering customers ethical and environmentally friendly product choice, or actively addressing climate change. The universe of investment stock might be considerably reduced once ethical filters are applied. This revolutionised investment approach has been endorsed by some of the most prominent scholars in the Islamic finance industry, four of which sit on the board of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions.

To accommodate the demand from Islamic fund managers, index providers were the first to introduce Sharia indices as early as 1998. The FTSE, DJIM, MSCI, S&P all offer a selection of Sharia indices that allow the end users like fund managers to pick stocks for their investment portfolios.

Many funds have composite portfolios that rely on one or several index providers. These Sharia indices, however, may give a fairly limited choice in terms of the investable universe. In addition, some of these indices do not delve deep enough into any given company’s financials so as to determine the exact percentage of revenue which is generated from prohibited activities. This has serious implications on other services related to Sharia compliance, such as dividend purification, where fund managers are required to purify dividends earned by companies in their investment portfolio that derive a percentage of their revenue from non-Sharia-compliant business activity.

In short, the indices’ sectoral screening is purely based on the primary business activity of the company. Those businesses whose primary activity is Sharia compliant, but derive a portion of their revenue from Haram activities are not excluded. The real challenge in Sharia stock screening application is to specifically capture the latter companies that still generate more than 5% of their revenues from prohibited activities.

For example, a company such as Sainsbury’s is categorized under the ICB sector ‘food and drug retailer’, but sells pork and alcohol and might be generating more than 5% from these business activities. Another example is Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, categorised as ‘clothing and accessories’, but that still earns revenues from the sale of wines and spirits.

In order to determine the exact percentage of revenue from non-Sharia activities within companies operating in multiple business segments and those that pass the generic industry filters, Islamic fund managers need to conduct a thorough analysis of the firms’ accounts and reports, which may not be readily available. A company like Sainsbury’s might not be segregating between its sources of revenues (from pork sales vs non-prohibited products).

New generation screening

A new generation of Sharia stock screening processes has now emerged, creating a sophisticated but viable stock screening system which identifies the exact portion of prohibited activity within a company.

A United States-based provider of Sharia fund management solutions offers its clients a global equity screening service which is considered a powerful filtering engine, composed of 40,000 stocks globally in 95 different countries. The service provider lists the investments that need purification, and also has the capability to calculate dividend purification. The screening system does not as of yet have a Fatwa from the scholars, but it can be programmed to accommodate any financial ratio at the discretion of the Sharia scholars of a fund management company. In terms of sectoral screening, the system has the ability to remove companies that are indirectly involved in Haram businesses, such as a software company that produces software for casinos. However, when the data information is not available, such as in the case of Sainsbury’s, which does not provide a breakdown of its revenues, this company is then considered Sharia-compliant unless there is sufficient evidence to prove otherwise.

A UK-based hedge fund manager that has spent two years on developing one of the most sophisticated and rigorous Sharia screening systems considers such companies as non-Sharia-compliant. This screening system looks at 38,000 stocks representing more than 95% of the stocks worldwide. Another interesting feature is that it has both a web-based interface where clients can search by name, sedol, and various tickers, as well as by geography and industry sector. In addition, the Sharia screening system has an Excel add-on whereby a client can screen a complete portfolio from within the Excel software, that takes daily downloads from global financial information providers.

The filtering system is achieved in two steps. The first step consists of removing companies whose core activity is prohibited. The second stage involves a manual in-depth research on the financial and business activities of those companies that pass the first step. This Sharia screening system also provides daily updates on the compliance status of a company. For example, the system takes into account daily corporate actions, which means that a fund manager holding a position on a stock that becomes non Sharia-compliant, will be notified on the same day, and in theory, can take immediate action.

The number of Sharia-compliant equity funds now exceeds 400, of which a large number are Middle East and North Africa focused, or targeting individual countries within that region. At the same time, there is a rising demand from fund managers seeking to outsource these labour-intensive tasks to an external specialist. Conventional fund managers looking to launch Sharia-compliant equity funds will find off-the-shelf Sharia-compliant stock screening systems a simple and practical solution. The move from the traditional approach of using in-house resources for stock screening to a new generation of screening and monitoring tools can be achieved by using specialist Sharia advisory and structuring firms.

• Zaineb Sefiani is associate client relationship manager at BMB

BMB ISLAMIC: http://www.bmbislamic.com

Internet access in Panama

2009-08-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/x-12916-Norfolk-Panama-Travel-Examiner~y2009m8d19-Internet-access-in-Panama

August 19, 10:02 AM

Norfolk Panama Travel Examiner

Julie Ray

Major cities and even many small towns in Panama have one to many “Internet Cafes” (although often there is no “café”). Most places will charge by the ½ hour while others will have timers and charge you by the minute. In general, Internet places in the cities will be about $0.50 - $1.00 an hour, while those in smaller towns may be slightly more expensive. If you bring your own laptop, you may be able to use it at the Internet Café by having an attendant log you into the Wireless network. Many Internet places also will offer other services, such as printing and photocopying.

Panama uses the same electrical plugs as the United States (110 AC voltage). However, often outlets have only two prongs. If your computer (or other necessary appliances) have three prongs, pick up an adapter (3-prong to 2-prong) at any home improvement store for under $1.00. European visitors are encouraged to bring the necessary adaptors with them.

Most hotels in Panama now have a computer with Internet access, some times for free and other times payable with a credit card. Several places are now offering Wireless service (look for a MovilNet sign or other similar banner advertising Internet).

If you have a web-based email (Gmail, Yahoo!, or Hotmail) you should be able to access it from any Internet place. Some other web access mail programs require special software, which you may or may not be able to download onto the computer at the Internet Café. Utilize your own computer, which is set to receive your messages or consider forwarding your email to a web-based account during your trip. Computers loaded with Scype are now also available at most larger establishments.

Note that computers with public access may have viruses. Check all USB devices and your computer for viruses after use in an Internet café or hotel. Also, be sure to log-out of all accounts (email, bank accounts, Facebook, etc.) to ensure that someone does not access your information. Simply closing the webpage may not log you out of the account!

Hopefully these tips will help you stay connected while you travel through Panama!

Opposition Lawmakers May Stall Canada-Panama Free Trade Accord

2009-08-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aN60LC5gu9xg

By Alexandre Deslongchamps and Eric Sabo

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The free trade agreement between Canada and Panama signed Aug. 11 may be stalled or even defeated in Canada’s Parliament unless Prime Minister Stephen Harper can convince at least one opposition party to overcome concerns about Panama’s tax policies.

Lawmakers from all three opposition parties said that while no decisions have been made, they may oppose the agreement over concerns that the Central American country is a tax haven.

Panama’s tax policies are “an area where we have a concern,” Scott Brison, the main opposition Liberal Party’s trade critic, said yesterday in an interview from Wolfville, Nova Scotia. “We are evaluating this particular agreement and will determine through the committee process whether or not it’s in the best interest of Canada.”

A refusal to pass the accord by opposition lawmakers would hamper Harper’s foreign policy strategy of forging tighter links with countries in the Americas. Harper has said he wants to bolster investment and trade in the region after negotiations at the Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations stalled.

The Conservative government holds a minority of seats in the House of Commons and need the support of at least one opposition bloc to pass legislation.

A similar trade accord between Panama and the U.S., which was signed in 2007, has stalled in Congress after Democrats refused to support it unless Panama agrees to clamp down on tax evaders who find refuge there.

‘I Have My Doubts’

“We’ll read the text and look at the impacts, but given the problems with the tax haven status of Panama, I have my doubts,” Peter Julian, the trade spokesman for the New Democratic Party, said in an interview from Halifax, Nova Scotia. “If the deal has the results that we’re thinking about, then we’d be opposed to it.”

The Bloc Quebecois is also likely to vote against the agreement if it doesn’t contain new fiscal rules, said Serge Cardin, the party’s international trade spokesman.

“We at the Bloc Quebecois have denounced tax havens many times,” he said in an interview. “Now we have a chance, through the free trade agreement, to tell a country, if you want to do business with us, some things must change.”

Panama was the fastest-growing economy in Central America last year, expanding 9.2 percent. More than 17 corporations moved regional headquarters to Panama since legislators passed a tax exemption law in 2007, according to the Commerce Ministry.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reiterated today that Panama is one of 26 jurisdictions that hasn’t “substantially implemented” its standard for sharing tax information, after the country agreed to do so in 2002.

Engaging Through Trade

Brison said the Liberals believe in the principle of free trade and that negotiating pacts with other countries can help engage them on issues such as governance, labor, and the environment.
Canada intends to propose negotiations on a tax information exchange agreement with Panama, a finance department official said in an e-mailed statement on condition that he not be identified by name.

The free-trade agreement would remove tariffs on 90 percent of Panamanian goods imported from Canada, with the remaining ones to be phased out over the next decade, Harper’s office said in an Aug. 11 statement. Canada exported C$128 million ($118 million) of goods such as meat, forest products and flight simulators to Panama in 2008, up 48 percent from 2007.

Under the agreement, Canada would immediately eliminate 99 percent of its tariffs on imports from Panama, leaving duties on some imports of sugar, poultry, eggs and dairy products. Panama would also end a ban on Canadian beef imports it imposed in 2003 following the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada.

A free-trade agreement with Peru came into force on Aug. 1 and Harper’s government is pushing opposition parties to approve another agreement it signed with Colombia last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at adeslongcham@bloomberg.net; Eric Sabo in Panama City at esabo1@bloomberg.net Last Updated: August 14, 2009 15:19 EDT

Metro project is progressing well

2009-08-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.laestrella.com.pa/mensual/2009/08/14/contenido/134358.asp

TRANSPORT

Metro project is progressing well

08-14-2009 MARIJULIA PUJOL LLOYD

Panama Star PANAMA. The metro project that could become the biggest achievement of the Ricardo Martinelli administration is progressing according to plan, says Metro Secretary, Roberto Roy.

“Currently the project is in the planning phase and we are estimating the costs and the technical viability. We are also doing the soil, and topographic studies and determining how much money we will have to pay to proprietors of the land affected by the metro,” said Roy.

It is unknown how much the metro is going to cost, because it will depend on the design.

The secretary said that metro would be a mixture of tunnels, ground level and aerial structures, which will follow the terrain.

“Initially we have planned a series of routes that will create a network able to transport a great amount of people in the metropolitan area. It expected that between 220,000 and 250,000 passengers would use the metro everyday, and this is just a conservative estimate,” said Roy.

The metro would have day and night schedules, but at the beginning would not operate 24 hours. The trains are going to have between three to six carriages that would be able to transport around 100 passengers each.

There will be two rails with trains traveling in opposite directions. In certain parts where elevated sectors are considered, special designs and materials will be put in place to minimize noise and at the same type blend in with the environment. The money to finance the metro will come from the private sector, the government and from international organizations.

Panamanian technical experts have visited metros in other countries such as the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Germany to see their designs, how they operate, but the one in Panama will have a unique design.

Roy said that the construction of the metro will start in 2010, with the first route open in 2014 and will be fully operational in 2015.

The metro department said that 90 percent of the routes have already being decided, but to avoid panic, they are going to be announced at a later date.

A Japanese commercial mission visited the government to express their interest in the metro and to give some advise.

Roy said that the construction of the metro is essential to make a proper reorganization of the transport system, in which passengers can travel in comfort, safety and arrive to their destinations on time.

Panamá ante la presión global

2009-07-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.prensa.com/

Rogelio Tribaldos-Alba

Los tratados de intercambio de información fiscal (Tax Information Exchange Agreement o TIEA) y los convenios para evitar la doble imposición (Double Tax Treaty o DTT) son las dos fórmulas aplicadas en la actualidad para alinear a los llamados paraísos fiscales, con la imperial armonización fiscal tan vociferada por la OCDE. Permítaseme utilizar en adelante las siglas TIEA y DTT que son las siglas más conocidas en la literatura.

Los DTT interesan, en principio, a aquellos países de alta fiscalidad que, sobre la base de su sistema esencialmente universal, gravan a sus residentes por sus ingresos en cualquier lugar del mundo. O sea, si un francés invierte en Japón, el DTT entre estos países evita que el francés tribute doblemente, en Francia y en Japón.

En contraste, los TIEA son impuestos por los poderosos a los miniestados y territorios dependientes, especialmente si son tildados de paraísos fiscales. El interés por intercambiar unilateralmente información tributaria basada en los TIEA no se origina entonces en países de poca tributación, sino en los países de alta fiscalidad universal. Por lo general, al tratarse de colonias británicas y otras posesiones europeas en el mundo, los tratados de doble imposición (DTT) no interesan al estado colonial. Por eso, las Islas Vírgenes Británicas tienen un solo DTT con Inglaterra.

Consecuentemente, los acuerdos que está firmando para liberarse del estigma de Unco-Operative Tax Haven, son únicamente TIEA, acuerdos de una vía para satisfacer el apetito fiscal del gobierno inglés. De cara a las Islas Vírgenes Británicas, la imposición de los TIEA es injusta, pero no hay que asombrarse: Los británicos tienen experiencia en imponer “tratados desiguales” (China, 1841, Guerras del Opio). Amén de las potencias coloniales Francia, España y su mejor aprendiz, Estados Unidos.

No hay una definición generalmente aceptada de paraíso fiscal, pero proponemos decir que es un ordenamiento jurídico que, en lo tributario, grava la renta de sus residentes principalmente basado en la fuente y aplica tasas impositivas muy bajas o inexistentes a no residentes. Por lo general, son territorios dependientes o miniestados soberanos que, por falta de materias primas y por su limitado territorio y población, ofrecen facilidades jurídico-fiscales y de confidencialidad que les permiten percibir beneficios intermediando vehículos jurídicos y participar así en la economía mundial.

Panamá siempre tuvo un sistema de territorialidad, uno de los sistemas impositivos más antiguos que se conocen y que se aplica parcialmente aún en todo el mundo. Sería lógico entonces que Panamá firmase convenios tipo TIEA con las potencias globales para que “nos dejen en paz”.

Sin embargo, antes de tomar una decisión apresurada, analicemos mejor el asunto.

No somos colonia de nadie y, si por casi un siglo fuimos un “cuasi-protectorado” gringo, hemos demostrado a la saciedad que somos una digna y libre nación. Es una ofensa que se nos imponga un “tratado desigual” como el TIEA, el cual pondría en peligro nuestra economía de servicios y, lo que es totalmente inaceptable, nos cerraría la puerta al futuro desarrollo de nuestro centro financiero. Con base en los TIEA, no afluirían hacia Panamá patrimonios no declarados por temor al intercambio de información fiscal, ni patrimonios declarados por falta de los Double Tax Treaties.

Otra cosa sería nuestro centro financiero si Panamá dispusiera de una red de convenios para evitar la doble tributación (DTT). Estos tratados disponen de una cláusula sobre intercambio de información fiscal por lo que son muy bien aceptados por las potencias globales. Una buena red de DTT convertiría a Panamá en una plaza de gestación patrimonial internacional; se desarrollarían en nuestro medio las técnicas y el conocimiento de la planificación fiscal, sucesoria y financiera (Tax, Estate & Financial Planning). En poco tiempo, Panamá pasaría a ser para el hemisferio occidental lo que es Suiza para Europa y Singapur para el Asia. Este sofisticado esquema atraería masivamente la inversión extranjera, con la creación de nuevas industrias, actividades comerciales y, por ende, muchísimos puestos de trabajo.

Necesitamos urgentemente una estrategia nacional de desarrollo que permita aprovechar las ventajas naturales que caracterizan al Istmo. La historia de Panamá refleja al máximo el axioma de que el destino de los pueblos pasa por su geografía.

Se necesita el debate nacional sobre el futuro de nuestra economía, actualmente egoístamente cuestionada por las potencias globales sin importarles el daño que nos puedan causar. Así como no podemos prohibir a Estados Unidos que produzca acero para exportar armas, ni a Alemania que declare que su industria automovilística “es de interés nacional”, tampoco podemos permitir que nos destruyan las únicas ventajas que tiene nuestro país, la economía de servicios.

El gobierno panameño tiene que declarar oficialmente al centro de servicios como asunto de interés nacional (el 80% de la economía), a la vez que dar a conocer al mundo su disponibilidad de aplicar la Ley de Retorsión contra cualquier país que nos discrimine. Como nación progresista, tenemos también que estar dispuestos a adaptar nuestro ordenamiento jurídico a las exigencias del tiempo.

Tenemos que hacer las reformas necesarias que nos permitan negociar con éxito convenios de doble tributación y rechazar al mismo tiempo los denigrantes tratados de intercambio de información fiscal. Los amigos o la moral no pueden determinar nuestra política exterior, sino esencialmente el interés nacional; ¡defendamos lo nuestro!

Third Set of Locks Bid Opening Ceremony

2009-07-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

VIDEO OF THE EVENT

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/index.html

Panama canal says Sacyr, Impregilo give lowest bid

2009-07-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0838739520090708

Wed Jul 8, 2009 11:41am EDT

* Panama Canal Authority unveils bids on contract

* Consortium led by Sacyr, Impregilo submit lowest bid

PANAMA CITY, July 8 (Reuters) - A consortium led by Spanish firm Sacyr (SVO.MC) and Impregilo (IPGI.MI) of Italy submitted the lowest bid on a contract for the largest portion of a project to expand the Panama Canal, the Canal Authority said on Wednesday.

The consortium submitted a bid of $3.12 billion, which was below the target price of $3.48 billion also announced on Wednesday by the canal authority, or ACP.

The ACP, which is overseeing the bidding, may take several weeks before announcing a winner. This contract is the largest piece of a $5.25 billion project to expand the interoceanic canal.

Bids were placed months before a presidential election brought into power millionaire supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli, bucking a trend of left-wing leadership victories in Latin America.

The other two bidders in the process were a consortium including Spanish giants ACS (ACS.MC), FCC (FCC.MC), Acciona (ANA.MC) and Mexican firm ICA (ICA.MX); and a consortium led by privately owned Bechtel. Bechtel had teamed up with Japan's Taisei Corp (1801.T) and Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T). (Reporting by Elida Moreno; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Martinelli Will Be a Great President for Panamá

2009-07-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

http://www.diariolasamericas.com/news.php?nid=80711

EDITORIALES

Publicado el 07-02-2009

Significant for democracy in the Americas has been the presidential election of Ricardo Martinelli in Panamá, a man who represents a serious and sensible ideological current in terms of human rights in the political and of free enterprise in the economic. This is a man who has acquired great wealth with honest work and constantly trying to improve himself in an exemplary way.

He came to power because of the will of a considerable majority of his fellow citizens who, knowing that his ideology is contrary to the populism now in vogue, supported him to reorganize Panamá and consolidate the institutions of the republic.

Certainly, several or many anti-democratic governments that pose as democratic in the Americas, although represented at the solemn inauguration of President Ricardo Martinelli and his Vice President Juan Carlos Varela, must have been surprised and dejected by the victory of a serious man who has all the characteristics of a statesman, although this might not be his academic background. However, he is a citizen who is determined to carry out his work with a serious ideological sense within the norms of representative democracy.

It would have been terrible for democracy in the Americas that Panamá had fallen into the populist abyss as has happened in several republics of the continent that are now in jeopardy of ceasing to be republics because of the demagoguery of their rulers set upon deforming the democratic life of their nations.

The speech made by President Martinelli on his inauguration described, with simple words, what his regime would be, reducing the scope of the government to the benefit of the citizenry. He began by receiving the presidential sash wearing formal suit, different to what some rulers are wearing now who seem to be in costume when one compares them with the traditional customs in official ceremonies.

In his speech, he said the following: “Panamá has to be a leader of freedom and justice, not only here in our home, but in our region and our continent”. He added that, “As President, I will do everything within my power to advance the ideals of a free economy, defying the ideological pendulum in Latin America.” These are significant words that reveal a firm stand on behalf of the political seriousness of democracy in the region.

Future looks bright for Panama

2009-07-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/5733774/Future-looks-bright-for-Panama.html

Panama has a slice of everything and something for everyone, says Richard McColl.

He explains why the future looks bright for Panama.

By Richard McColl
Published: 4:45PM BST 05 Jul 2009

There is no mistaking where we are, soaring above the Central American isthmus and over the Bridge of the Americas – an ironwork structure that from the air looks as if it is a giant's clasp fastening North and South America together either side of the Panama Canal.

Our plane banks up and over an endless line of waiting tankers before catching a glimpse of Panama City's exponential upward – or even skyward – growth. For the centre city now resembles a mirrored glass complex of clustered stalagmites, although you'll hear estate agents and residents claiming that the city has a "Manhattan" skyline.

Panama is booming, in fact it has been booming for some time now. Those who missed the boat in Miami and found Costa Rica inadequate and too costly, set their sights on this sliver of a country that since the strongman Manuel Noriega was deposed in 1989 has been a model of stability.

Many expat retired people have also been enticed into investing in property here because of Panama's easy access to both oceans, abundance of flora and fauna, by a favourable climate – which conveniently lies south of the hurricane belt – and most importantly the infrastructure.

"Panama is in a privileged location, multinational firms are moving their Americas headquarters here, Panama City has all the benefits of a first world city and Tocumen International airport has daily flights to 42 countries," says Jaime Figueroa, of estate agents Panama All in One.

Sitting in the shade of a jacaranda tree in a handsome plaza in the colonial Casco Viejo quarter of the city, my reflections on Panama's history as key to Spanish imperialism in South and central America are interrupted by a raucously loud Blackberry device.

Carefully I cast a glance over my shoulder to see a fiftysomething North American woman, dressed impeccably, sipping tonic water sitting before a pile of immaculate office files. There's no doubt about it, she's an estate agent. And by the sound of things business is good. Could this be the agent who brokered the deal for Sean Connery or for Mel Gibson in Panama's current hot spot, the Azuero Peninsula, an axe-head shaped parcel of land in Panama's southwest jutting out into the Pacific, or perhaps she is sweetening the deal for prospective clients Angelina and Brad on the Caribbean's Bocas del Toro region? Apparently Pierce Brosnan is fond of Panama as well since he can move about for the most part unrecognised.

Brian Requarth, managing director of VivaReal (www.VivaReal.net), an English language online property site, says: "We saw Panama as a key market as there are a growing number of investors drawn to the area. The country has provided some excellent incentives to attract foreign investors to the region and the strategic location really makes Panama a bridge into South America."

These incentives include a conservative banking industry and a stable economy, the balboa is pegged to the US dollar. In addition to this, the Panamanian authorities have waived property taxes on people investing in Panama for a period of 20 years as well as not taxing earnings made elsewhere.

Celebrities aside, Panama gained some notoriety in recent years from "canoe man" John Darwin and his wife Anne, the debt-ridden Hartlepool couple who were so enamoured by the county that they staged John's death to invest the life insurance payout here.

Intending to set up a business, they bought a £200,000 lot in Escobal, which is just a few kilometres outsite the run down and dangerous city of Colon on the Caribbean coast, which is an hour's drive from downtown Panama City and the location of the famous Zona Libre (Tax-Free Zone). Similar lots are selling up fast, partly due to the publicity surrounding the Darwins causing a mini surge in tourism.

One assumes that the Darwins did a thorough reconnaissance trip around Panama before settling on Escobal, shunning the cooler climes of the mountain town of Boquete, steering clear of the Miami-like Panama City, staying away from the busy Caribbean islands of the Bocas del Toro and obviously staying to the North of the troublesome Darien area.

In short, Panama has a slice of everything and something for everyone. With a new government elected in May that is ambitious and overtly friendly and open to foreign investors, the future looks brighter and brighter for Panama.

"As soon as the United States was attacked on 9/11," says Figueroa, "Panama saw an upsurge in interest in people looking for first-world amenities, warm weather and security, and they found it here."

I won't be found criticising the United States for their role in the forming of modern day Panama – I am benefiting from it right now. Rather than check into a soulless multinational establishment in the downtown mayhem and rush hour traffic of El Cangrejo or Marbella, I have decided to stay in Balboa, the heart of the former Canal Zone.

Here the streets are wide, a breeze takes the edge off the stuffy mornings, people still tend to their lawns and there is an appreciation of personal space. A basketball net adorns the eaves of a garage door and it is hard to imagine that I am anywhere else but in a parallel version of Americana, certainly not in Latin America.

Perhaps the only difference is that over breakfast on the terrace, looking out at the exotic birds of paradise I can make out a family of coati scavenging for food near the bottom of the garden and up above a pair of toucans sing their morning tunes, whistling through their colourful beaks.

Panama: Boxing to a better life

2009-06-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/06/25/panama-boxing-to-a-better-life/

By Sara Miller Llana Staff writer 06.25.09

A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

PANAMA CITY – Eusebio Pedroza, a former world boxing champion, started punching at age 9 in a local gym. But he hid it from his parents for a decade, sneaking off to Friday night fights with his trainer uncle, until he made it professional. “They wanted me to study,” he says.

These days kids have nothing to hide – as boxing is making a comeback across Panama. In April, the government inaugurated the Roberto Duran arena, a $16.5 million renovation expected to attract world-class title events. Panama currently boasts three world champions – no small number considering the country’s population of 3 million.

It is in this context that Mr. Pedroza has set up a nongovernmental organization to help the kids in the same hardscrabble neighborhood where he grew up shining shoes and selling candy on the streets as a small boy.

The two-year old Association for Organic Human Development helps in all kinds of ways: with tutoring or after-school activities to steer boys away from gangs and girls from prostitution. Boxing is just a piece of it, but one that Pedroza is willing to teach.

“Boxing is more than just an art, it is defense for an individual and it teaches discipline,” he says. But education is what he tries to underscore. “Education is always the priority,” he says.

And he teaches by example. He might not have the celebrity status of Roberto Duran, but Pedroza has an advanced degree, has served in public office, and continues to work in a variety of capacities for the government.

10 words you will hear in Panama, but may not find in your dictionary

2009-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/x-12916-Norfolk-Panama-Travel-Examiner~y2009m6d21-10-words-you-will-hear-in-Panama-but-may-not-find-in-your-dictionary

June 21, 4:03 Pm

Julie Ray
Norfolk Panama Travel Examiner

Here are some words that you are sure to hear during your visit to Panama, but may not find in your dictionary.

Balboa: (ball-bo-a) Several things bear the name Balboa in Panama, in honor of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer who crossed Panama in 1513 to become the first recorded European to see the Pacific Ocean from the New World. If you hear this word while trying to make a purchase, it is most likely in reference to the Panamanian currency. Panama utilizes the US dollar (although they have their own printed coins that are interchangeable with US coins), but calls the paper money the ‘Balboa’. Instead of writing a price with the $ sign on price tags, they may write 'B./' to indicate ‘Balboas’. Cashiers will announce your total in ‘dolares’ or ‘Balboas’. Balboa also is the name of a beer served in many restaurants and bars in Panama.

Interior: (in-tear-e-or) The areas of Panama between Panama City and Chiriqui (near the Costa Rican border). This term may be used in general conversation to reference the poor, rural areas of western Panama.

Chiva: (che-va) Most often used as the name for the small van-like buses and, in rural areas, for pick-up trucks with the bed covered and equipped with benches for passengers. Chivas travel locally between towns throughout Panama. They will stop to pick up passengers between the two designations, but usually do not travel more than two hours each direction.

Diablo Rojo: (dee-ah-blo row-ho) Old US school buses that provide transportation around Panama City (and in some other cities). The buses are characteristically decorated with dramatic pictures and streamers. The route traveled by each bus is painted on the windshield and often shouted out by the driver or helper. The cost is $0.25 to ride in Panama City, paid when you get off the bus. Diablo Rojos do travel past Tocumen International Airport during daytime hours (leaving from Albrook Bus Terminal; about $1.00 each way). Be ready to exit the bus quickly at your stop as the driver will not wait long.

Interamericana: (inter-amer-a-cana) Refers to the Pan-American Highway. In total, the highway extends from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska into the southern parts of South America (the actual ending point is disputed). In Panama the highway runs the length of western part of the country (4-lanes for nearly the whole distance) and is only interrupted by the ‘Darien Gap’ in eastern Panama, where 87 kilometers (55 miles) has not been completed.

Corredor: (core-e-door) A toll road (4-lane) most commonly traveled between Panama City and the Tocumen International Airport by tourists. It heads in both directions, so you will see signs for Corredor Norte and Corredor Sur. If you catch a taxi at the airport, you may be asked if you would like to take the ‘Corredor’ to the city. This option will help avoid potential traffic delays, but you will be charged more to cover the tolls (there are 2 between Panama City and the airport, totaling about $3.00).

Dale: (doll-e)A slang term, at times followed by the word ‘pue’ (translation: then). When on the bus, you will hear the secretary (the person who helps you on the bus) say this to the driver when you are clear to move away from a stop. Taxi drivers may call this out. It also is commonly heard coming from a group playing fútbol (soccer). The literal translation is ‘give it’, but it can mean ‘go ahead’ or ‘move it’.

Fonda: (fon-da) A small restaurant serving traditional Panamanian food. Each normally will offer a limited number of dishes each day. Meals may consist of rice, beans or lentils, and a meat (chicken or beef, at times pork or fish). Soup (chicken, beef, or fish) also may be available and you can ask for a plate of rice to accompany this (noodles are not typical). Prices are usually cheap ($1-$3/meal) and meals are served quickly compared to restaurants where large menus are offered.

Sancocho: (san-co-cho) A traditional soup. It contains meat from a farm-raised hen chicken and vegetables and herbs like yucca, ñame (a type of tuber), onions, oregano, and cilantro. The soup can be served with rice, but does not contain noodles.

Mondungo: (mon-dun-go) A dish made from the intestines of a cow. Very chewy and typically not a favorite of Americans or some Europeans! I personally cannot recommend choosing this from the menu! (Have seen this dish spelled as mundungo in some places in rural Panama).

Print this list of words and tuck it into your dictionary. I would be surprised if you did not hear (and perhaps wonder about) at least one of these words during your trip to Panama!

"We Need Fathers To Step Up"

2009-06-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.parade.com/export/sites/default/news/2009/06/barack-obama-we-need-fathers-to-step-up.html

by President Barack Obama
published: 06/21/2009

Two days before the inauguration, PARADE published a letter from Barack Obama to his daughters about what he hoped for them and all the children of America.

The letter attracted international attention.

On this Father's Day, we asked the President to reflect on what fatherhood means to him. [Get the story behind the story from PARADE Editor Janice Kaplan.]

As the father of two young girls who have shown such poise, humor, and patience in the unconventional life into which they have been thrust, I mark this Father’s Day—our first in the White House—with a deep sense of gratitude. One of the greatest benefits of being President is that I now live right above the office.

I see my girls off to school nearly every morning and have dinner with them nearly every night.

It is a welcome change after so many years out on the campaign trail and commuting between Chicago and Capitol Hill. But I observe this Father’s Day not just as a father grateful to be present in my daughters’ lives but also as a son who grew up without a father in my own life.

My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I knew him mainly from the letters he wrote and the stories my family told. And while I was lucky to have two wonderful grandparents who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me, I still felt the weight of his absence throughout my childhood.

As an adult, working as a community organizer and later as a legislator, I would often walk through the streets of Chicago’s South Side and see boys marked by that same absence—boys without supervision or direction or anyone to help them as they struggled to grow into men.

I identified with their frustration and disengagement—with their sense of having been let down. In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence—both in my life and in the lives of others. I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill.

We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference. That is why we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.

As fathers, we need to be involved in our children’s lives not just when it’s convenient or easy, and not just when they’re doing well—but when it’s difficult and thankless, and they’re struggling. That is when they need us most. And it’s not enough to just be physically present.

Too often, especially during tough economic times like these, we are emotionally absent: distracted, consumed by what’s happening in our own lives, worried about keeping our jobs and paying our bills, unsure if we’ll be able to give our kids the same opportunities we had.

Our children can tell. They know when we’re not fully there. And that disengagement sends a clear message—whether we mean it or not—about where among our priorities they fall. So we need to step out of our own heads and tune in. We need to turn off the television and start talking with our kids, and listening to them, and understanding what’s going on in their lives.

We need to set limits and expectations. We need to replace that video game with a book and make sure that homework gets done. We need to say to our daughters, Don’t ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for your goals.

We need to tell our sons, Those songs on the radio may glorify violence, but in our house, we find glory in achievement, self-respect, and hard work. We need to realize that we are our children’s first and best teachers. When we are selfish or inconsiderate, when we mistreat our wives or girlfriends, when we cut corners or fail to control our tempers, our children learn from that—and it’s no surprise when we see those behaviors in our schools or on our streets.

But it also works the other way around. When we work hard, treat others with respect, spend within our means, and contribute to our communities, those are the lessons our children learn.

And that is what so many fathers are doing every day—coaching soccer and Little League, going to those school assemblies and parent-teacher conferences, scrimping and saving and working that extra shift so their kids can go to college. They are fulfilling their most fundamental duty as fathers: to show their children, by example, the kind of people they want them to become.

It is rarely easy. There are plenty of days of struggle and heartache when, despite our best efforts, we fail to live up to our responsibilities. I know I have been an imperfect father. I know I have made mistakes. I have lost count of all the times, over the years, when the demands of work have taken me from the duties of fatherhood. There were many days out on the campaign trail when I felt like my family was a million miles away, and I knew I was missing moments of my daughters’ lives that I’d never get back. It is a loss I will never fully accept.

But on this Father’s Day, I think back to the day I drove Michelle and a newborn Malia home from the hospital nearly 11 years ago—crawling along, miles under the speed limit, feeling the weight of my daughter’s future resting in my hands.

I think about the pledge I made to her that day: that I would give her what I never had—that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father. I knew that day that my own life wouldn’t count for much unless she had every opportunity in hers. And I knew I had an obligation, as we all do, to help create those opportunities and leave a better world for her and all our children.

On this Father’s Day, I am recommitting myself to that work, to those duties that all parents share: to build a foundation for our children’s dreams, to give them the love and support they need to fulfill them, and to stick with them the whole way through, no matter what doubts we may feel or difficulties we may face. That is my prayer for all of us on this Father’s Day, and that is my hope for this nation in the months and years ahead.

Natá, Coclé, Panama: Hidden history in the Interior

2009-06-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in history or enjoy beautiful architecture? Would you like to attend a service in an ancient church? Or perhaps you are seeking a break during your travels towards the western part of Panama? I encourage a stop in Natá, Coclé. Natá is one of the oldest cities in Panama, established in 1622, and is home to one of the oldest surviving churches of the New World.

Natá, originally settled by the Spanish, is a quaint community of about 6000 residents. Natá has a bank, Western Union office, pharmacy, a store with construction supplies, and a couple of small fondo restaurants.

It is located on the Interamerican (Pan-American) Highway between Penonomé and Aguadulce (two of the largest towns located in Coclé, both also located on the highway). You can arrive from Panama City by taking the Aguadulce bus (or any bus heading further to the west) and asking to be dropped off in Natá ($6-$7/person). You also can take a small chiva (van-like bus) from Aguadulce or Penonomé (~$2/person) or arrive by private vehicle. Located, in the lowlands, be prepared for hot temperatures and afternoon rains, especially during the rainy season.

You can visit the church by turning left (when traveling west) in the center of town and heading straight until you see the large, white tower or the park across the street. Ask a local person to point you towards the iglesia if you don’t find it right away. The church, a National Historic Landmark, is in great condition thanks to continuous restoration efforts by the local people. Catholic services are held daily and festivals are frequent events.

PRPA and Panama Canal Authority co-promoting Asia route

2009-06-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 12, 2009, 4:00pm EDT

Philadelphia Business Journal - by Athena D. Merritt

Staff Writer

The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and Panama Canal Authority agreed on Friday to jointly promote a shipping route between Asia and the city’s port via the Panama Canal.

The agreement, which is renewable after two years, will include joint marketing activities and sharing best practices and information, including market studies, information on improvements and/or modernization efforts and personnel training programs.

“The strategic alliance with the Panama Canal Authority will increase job opportunities at our regional ports and attract new business,” says PRPA Board Chairman John H. Estey.

“This collaboration aligns with our mission to become one of the most competitive U.S. East Coast seaports and has an increasingly marked contribution to the economic health of the state.”

Half of all of the cargo PRPA handled last year (1,906,343 long tons) was either on its way to or from the Canal last year, which is up 17,000 long tons over the prior year.

Expansion projects are under way in both areas. PRPA is sponsoring the five-to-seven year project to deeper the Delaware River Main Channel from 40 feet to 45 feet. The Panama Canal Expansion Program, expected to be completed in 2014, will add a new lane of traffic along the Canal that will allow for wider ships and double capacity.

Rethinking Panama

2009-06-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

Eric Farnsworth
http://www.as-coa.org/article.php?id=1694

Poder
June 2009

Score one for pragmatism over ideology in the ongoing fight for the soul of Latin America.On May 3, Panamanians elected a new president, businessman Ricardo Martinelli, by a wide margin over his closest rival, Balbina Herrera, a former housing minister linked to Manuel Noriega and, more recently, shady campaign donors.

The Panamanian people, tired of exploding crime and an imploding economy, turned to a candidate outside the two major political parties who promised to use his business acumen to restore Panama’s recent fortunes.It will be a tall, but not impossible task.First, the good news.

Martinelli has made a fortune in supermarkets but he’s no stranger to politics nor to management of Panama’s crown jewel, the canal. As former Minister for Canal Affairs and also Chairman of the body that oversees the canal, Martinelli has moved seamlessly among virtually all parties in Panama, and with the international community as well, particularly the United States.

He understands Panama’s geography as a crossroads and rightful place in the global economy, and has been an instrumental voice in the massive canal expansion project that, once completed, will allow Panama to compete for an ever larger share of global commerce that currently avoids the canal because it cannot handle the largest cargo loads.On the political side, Martinelli’s victory represents a cry by Panamanians for practical solutions to daily concerns.

Panama is not Nicaragua, Ecuador, or Bolivia—and Panamanians know their future lies with active participation in global commerce, rather than ideological hook-ups with anti-U.S. populists.

But now, the President-elect must deliver. In addition to spiking street crime and corruption, which the new Panamanian administration must quickly get under control, perhaps with increased Merida program assistance from the United States, Panama has been buffeted by the global economic recession.

Explosive recent growth of around 9 percent annually has been cut by two thirds, and the pace of recovery is uncertain.In the first instance, Martinelli will seek to restore growth. He has pledged to go forward with the canal expansion project as a means to juice Panama’s economy and position the country for the future. That’s the right move.

At the same time, he has said that the signing and implementation of the FTA negotiated with the United States will be his top priority.Under normal circumstances, conclusion of the trade agreement should be a slam dunk in Washington. It’s non-controversial to all but the most ardent anti-traders. It would link a small, services-based economy to the world’s largest economy, hardly a threat to U.S. economic standing. Along with the pending U.S.-Colombia FTA, it would bridge the gap of free trade from Central to South America.

And it would be the next logical step to build a bilateral relationship that has mirrored the historical arc of U.S. relations with Latin America generally: from gunboat diplomacy at the birth of the nation to questions of sovereignty, dictatorship, drugs, and finally partnership building commerce and mutual respect.But we are not living under normal circumstances.

Arguably, both Panama and the United States made a significant tactical mistake by leaving Panama out of the original DR-CAFTA and seeking to do a stand-alone bilateral agreement. Such a move was always risky, but concerns were brushed aside. In the meantime, the makeup of the U.S. Congress changed significantly.

As more trade skeptics were elected, the opponents of trade continued their relentless a lacks without an effective countervailing push-back from the business and policy communities, and the global economy tanked.The Obama Administration has now suggested it wants to move forward with the Panama FTA sooner rather than later, but the lack of a defined timetable is troubling, particularly now that its U.S.-based critics are urging that Panama be included in the Administration’s announced push to close down foreign tax havens. If it weren’t this, it would be something else; the bottom line is that Washington these days is a hard place to be for trade, and unless the White House actively gets behind the agreement, the US-Panama FTA won’t move.

But with everything else on the Administration’s plate in the current moment, that’s a tough political call to make, particularly since the Summit of the Americas is now out of the way and there are few other action-forcing events on the horizon beyond the 20th anniversary of Operation Just Cause, on December 20.

Like outgoing President Martin Torrijos, President-elect Martinelli sees the FTA as an anchor of Panama’s long-term economic health, an investment promoter and job creator that will help build out Panama’s economy to take full advantage of its strategic position. Together, once the global economy recovers, canal expansion and the bilateral trade agreement will give Panama a compelling competitive advantage. But we have to get there first.

This piece was originally published in PODER.

Full steam ahead for Panama Canal expansion

2009-06-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Shipping/10319447.html

Los Angeles Times-Washington Post

Published: June 03, 2009, 23:36

The economic downturn has stalled big construction projects across the globe, but in Panama, smoke-belching steam shovels and dredges work around the clock on what people here call simply "la ampliacion" or the expansion.

As soon as this month, officials will award the principal contract for the $5.25-billion (Dh19.27 billion) expansion of the landmark Panama Canal, a project that will probably alter global shipping patterns and cement this Central American nation's place as a centre of global logistics.

"This is a financial crisis, and there has been a decline in ship traffic, but we are very much on time and on target," said Panama Canal Authority chief executive Alberto Aleman, addressing rumours that the global recession could cause the project to miss its 2014 scheduled completion date.

The authority is on the verge of choosing among three international consortiums, including one led by San Francisco-based Bechtel, to build two sets of locks to accommodate massive container cargo ships. Dubbed post-Panamax, the super-sized vessels are capable of carrying three times more cargo than ships now transiting the canal.

The construction of the two new locks - one at the waterway's Caribbean entrance, the other on the Pacific Ocean - will cost $3 billion or more, take five years to complete and require an army of 5,000 construction workers.

The winning consortium is expected to use the contract's marquee value as one of the world's highest-profile construction endeavours as a calling card to bid on other major infrastructure projects around the globe.

The canal authority maintains the expanded canal will make Panama an even more important transit hub by attracting a bigger share of Asian container freight destined for the eastern US Currently, 70 per cent of that cargo is offloaded at Los Angeles, Long Beach, California, and other North American ports and moved by rail or truck across the country.

"There will be a migration of freight to the canal, the implication being that Los Angeles and Long Beach ports will take the hit," said Mark Page of Drewry Shipping Consultants in London. "The US rail lines will also suffer."

Despite the recession gripping the US and other destination countries, the 9 per cent drop in global container traffic forecast for 2009, and a financing scheme that assumes rising traffic and tolls, Panama's Aleman said the expansion project is moving forward and will not be deterred.

"We factored in a margin of error and we are ahead of the projections," he said.

A new four-mile access channel on the Pacific side is 85 per cent excavated and dredging is under way. The new segment will be much deeper than the existing canal, allowing passage of 402-metre long ships carrying 14,000 cargo containers, compared with maximum 4,500-container ships that now transit the 80-kilometre waterway.

The winning contractor will be awarded a $50 million bonus if the expansion is done by 2014, the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal's completion by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

The canal expansion project is already having a ripple effect in Southern California. The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports each have launched expansion and streamlining projects valued at hundreds of millions of dollars to improve their competitiveness with an expanded Panama Canal.

"We're using the down time to improve our infrastructure," said Los Angeles port marketing director Mike DiBernardo, referring to his facility's 16 per cent decline in container traffic over the first three months of 2009. The port's plans include the expansion of three terminals and improved wharf access for rail lines.

Long Beach port spokesman Art Wong said his facility has put in motion a 10-year plan to invest $1.6 billion in upgrades of piers and rail access, a response he attributes partly to the tougher competition the port expects from the Panama Canal, as well as from port projects in Mexico and Canada.

But global shipping companies are wary of the rising tolls the canal is charging to fund the expansion. Michael Kristiansen, Latin America operations chief for Danish shipping giant Maersk, said the expanded canal will divert some US freight away from US West Coast ports, but how much will depend on transit times and the impact of the canal's toll hikes.

Another factor is whether US ports on the Eastern Seaboard make changes to accommodate the biggest ships. Ports including Savannah, Georgia, Charleston, South Carolina, and Miami are currently too shallow, and the Bayonne Bridge currently blocks their access to the Newark, New Jersey, port, the most important in the New York area.

As a defensive measure, Maersk and other shipping lines serving the Asia to eastern US routes are taking a close look at westward routes through the Suez Canal. Although Maersk is not yet diverting traffic away from Panama, it plans to open a Suez route for post-Panamax ships in the near future, Kristiansen said.

In addition to the Bechtel-led consortium that includes Japanese partners Taisei Corp and Mitsubishi Corp, two other groups also placed bids in March for the contract. They include teams led by Grupo ACS of Spain and another led by Sacyr Vallehermoso of Spain and Impregilo of Italy.

The locks will employ a "water savings basin" that will allow recycling of 60 per cent of the water used to fill them. Canals in Germany currently use the system, said Jorge de la Guardia, the canal authority's locks project manager.

He said the project so far has not experienced serious set-backs such as those faced by original canal builders. Those included malaria and yellow fever that killed thousands and the difficulties of digging through highly unstable "cockroach shale", which kept sliding into the excavations.

Still, rumours that the canal project might face delays gained momentum when the authority extended the deadline for proposals to March from December and when a fourth bidder, a French-Brazilian consortium, dropped out of the bidding.

"You have to look at the long term," Aleman, of the canal authority, said. "Yes we're in a financial crisis but there have been others in the past. And Panama still has the best route for Asian traffic."

Panama Real Estate: Hopes Run High for the New President

2009-06-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

Published on:

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Written by: Yemi Kifle

Panama's most recent election was full of surprises. For one thing, Ricardo Martinelli, who in his first presidential bid in 2004 only got 5.3 percent of the vote, won the contest. Equally striking is the fact that Mr. Martinelli won 61 percent of the votes, making him the first president in the country's modern history to be elected into office with an absolute majority.

So, who is this man that has caught Panama's ruling party, the PRD (Revolutionary Democratic Party), by complete surprise? The 57 year old Ricardo Martinelli is a conservative tycoon who owns a spectrum of businesses including supermarkets, banks, and agricultural companies, according to Time magazine. The U.S. educated candidate campaigned promising change and voters decided he is the man that can deliver. "The Martinelli victory breaks the Latin Left’s 2009 electoral winning streak of Venezuela, El Salvador, and Ecuador," said Ray Walser, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative American think tank.

The fact that the ruling party's candidate had to fight accusations of corruption during the campaign is sure to have helped Martinelli. It probably also made a difference that he was once the chairman of the board of directors at the Panama Canal. The Canal is often cited as an example of the kind of efficiency Panamaians want from their government. Martinelli was also the Minister of Canal Affairs when, in 2006, voters said yes to a $5.25 billion investment into the sector. This canal expansion project, which will be finished in 2014, has generated over 2,000 new jobs with many more expected to follow.

Martinelli and his party, Democratic Change, hold the majority of seats in the National Assembly. This puts him in a position where he can implement his reforms, including budget cuts and business friendly regulations regarding taxes and labor, once he takes office on July 1. If he carries though, international investors, real estate or otherwise, will likely give Panama an even closer look. He is also expected to push for the passing of a bi-lateral trade agreement between the U.S. and Panama. "The average voter in Panama is betting on a dynamic and productive relationship with the U.S. and has demonstrated confidence in continued strong ties between the two nations," said Walser.

Real Estate in Panama City and beyond

The current state of the property market in Panama City is nothing to envy. The city's real estate sector is in crisis. Sales have practically ground to a halt, according to Sam Taliaferro, who was recently interviewed by the New York Times. Mr. Taliaferro, who is the author of the widely read Panama Investor Blog, said he has yet been able to sell properties he bought on speculation. Prices in the capital are also dropping. "In a building in Punta Pacifica that I happen to own property in, they were selling at $2,400 a square meter as of, say, six or eight months ago. Now I can’t sell it at $1,300 a square meter," Taliaferro told the Times. Anyone who is interested in buying in Panama City should have plenty of options and opportunities to negotiate the purchase price. In fact, for those willing to look and haggle with developers, there are a lot of choices. In addition, the $200,000 to $400,000 market that was popular over the past five years has disappeared, according to Mr. Taliaferro. That market, he argues, was highly dependent on the abundant credit conditions that existed before the subprime mortgage crisis. The new market that is now emerging in Panama's real estate sector is one that is made up of well-heeled clients in search of a safe place to park their money.

Looking ahead

Panama's president "happens to own the largest supermarket chain in the country. But he’s also a businessman and has a number of buildings and towers that he has under construction. So he will do everything, obviously, to keep that machine going as long as possible," Taliaferro told the times. In addition, the finishing of the Panama Canal will mean it can process large ships that can carry up to 12,000 20 feet long containers, according to Time magazine. There is a lot of hope that with the help of an efficient and trustworthy government in place, Panama will become the regional Singapore.

Alcatel-Lucent to deploy all IP network for Claro Panama

2009-06-03T14:17:00.001-07:00

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=28722&email=html

Hot on the heels of its March 2009 commercial launch, Panamanian mobile operator Claro Panama has contracted French-US hardware vendor Alcatel-Lucent to build its all-IP nationwide mobile backhaul network.

Claro claims that the new network will enable it to expand the range of multimedia services it offers, as well as increase the quality of its high speed internet service.

Under the terms of the deal Alca-Lu will provide its IP/MPLS solution, rolling out a full IP backhaul network designed for optimised costs and scalability. Additionally, the vendor will also be responsible for the design, installation and maintenance of the infrastructure.

Commenting on the deal Victor Agnellini president of Alca-Lu’s activities in the Caribbean and Latin American regions said: ‘By converging all services on a full IP mobile network Claro Panama will reduce its transport infrastructure costs while maintaining the reliability and quality of service necessary for delivering premium multimedia services to its mobile users.’

Panama: Graffiti on wheels

2009-06-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/06/03/panama-graffiti-on-wheels/

A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

PANAMA CITY – Liriola Miranda, a college statistics professor, steps aboard Mr. Chiriqui, an old school bus blazing with splashes of red and green that give homage to the owner’s home province, Chiriqui, in Panama.

“The buses are an expression of identity,” she says of Panama City’s main transport system – a fleet of US hand-me-downs known affectionately in Panama as “red devils,” both for their hues and their hastiness as they fly down the capital’s roads, honking in search of passengers.

Sometimes the colorful expressions are patriotic, other times it’s something entirely different, Ms. Miranda explains, shaking her head as another “red devil” passes by, decorated with images of bikini-clad women in both back windows.

The “red devils,” painted down to the hubcaps, have turned Panama City’s streets into a whirl of bright reds and oranges and blues. Some are emblazoned with superheroes and saints, pictures of Colombian singer Shakira, or epic scenes of warriors fighting off lions.

Bus décor is a mixture of romanticism and manliness. Many are named after the owner’s girlfriend or wife – but they are also painted with macho slogans that shout “force,” “power,” and “thunder” or instructions like “If you don’t know the rules, I’ll teach them to you.”

But now the transport system, which is both ridiculed as anachronistic and celebrated (like the privately owned taxis called “tap-taps” that crowd Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince) as a form of public urban art, faces an uncertain fate.

The winner in Panama’s presidential election early in May, supermarket tycoon and right-leaning Ricardo Martinelli, made modernizing the public transportation system a main campaign pledge – calling for a Panama City subway to alleviate the traffic jams that have become chronic throughout the capital.

Carlos Diaz, a bus driver for 18 years, says he supports a new fleet of buses. “Let the new ones come,” says Mr. Diaz, behind the wheel of Mr. Chiriqui, his friend’s bus. “We’ll paint the new ones!” he says, smiling, before closing his doors and driving off.

For Miranda, it’s a mixed bag. “On one hand it is primitive. Panama is a city with money, and we deserve a good public transportation system,” she says, adding that her cellphone was stolen from her on her commute back from work recently.

Transportation consistently ranked as one of voters’ top concerns, and helped knock out the incumbent party. On the other hand, a new fleet will replace one of the last remaining idiosyncrasies of Panama City – not unlike the way a chain store drives out the local mom-and-pop shop.

“There is nowhere else in the world you can find these [buses],” says Miranda wistfully, but then perks up. “When they get rid of them, I’ll try to buy one as a souvenir,” she says. Or better yet, she brainstorms later, she can transport one to her home province and start a mini-tourist operation. “That way their memory will live on.”

Maryland Port Administration inks deal with Panama Canal Authority

2009-06-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 2:32pm EDT

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2009/06/01/daily28.html

Baltimore Business Journal - by Scott Dance Staff

The Panama Canal Authority has signed an agreement with the Maryland Port Administration to encourage shippers to visit Baltimore and other East Coast ports via the canal.

The deal could bring more business from Asia to Maryland ports. Meanwhile, Port of Baltimore officials are working to prepare the region’s terminals for an uptick in business that could come when the canal is widened in 2014.

“With the current economic climate, it has never been more important to provide optimal customer service, and this agreement will enable us to fully cooperate and work together for continued trade between Latin America, Asia and United States,” canal authority CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta said in a statement.

The MPA is currently shopping for a private-sector partner to enter a long-term lease at Seagirt Marine Terminal, the state’s main container cargo terminal handler. MPA leaders say a public-private partnership would help boost business at the port. It’s the fastest way to pay for a 50-foot berth needed to accommodate larger ships that will come through the widened canal, MPA Executive Director James J. White has said.

The Port of Baltimore is one of two East Coast ports with a 50-foot channel, according to the MPA.

Eco-luxury at Cala Mia, Panama

2009-05-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

Solar-powered luxury is available in one of eleven bungalows in this eco-lodge on the island of Boca Brava

Richard Holledge

Surprising place, Panama. A few minutes down the road from the airport at David, Panama’s second city, a fifty minute flight west from the capital, there’s a small marina where the fishermen gather – no posh yachts here.

From the jetty you can hire a boat to wend through the muddy waters of a bay, past mangroves and mysterious inlets and islands where there are few signs of life – just the occasional curl of smoke from a house hidden by the trees or cowboys rounding up their cattle.

Come market time, like a scene from the Wild West, the herd is forced to swim across the sea at a narrow point to the mainland where they are loaded up on lorries and taken away.

The sea gets bluer, the horizon opens up, as the boat sails around Boca Brava, one of the biggest islands, to tie up at the small resort of Cala Mia. There are only eleven thatched bungalows, each with a terrace, where you can sit and watch the gentle ebb and flow of the tide.

This is the kind of place where you swiftly lose the will to move. Maybe some light kayaking, a swim, perhaps a walk in the woods to a hill top to gaze over the islands which stretch to the horizon.

It’s hard to beat the mindless pleasure of watching the fishermen failing to net a single fish, the pelicans patrolling the calm sea and waiting for the iguanas to pop out of the undergrowth and scuttle up a tree. Occasionally the howler monkeys let rip with their discordant bellow as if providing the sound effect for a part in a horror film.

The furniture, materials and woodwork of the bungalows are made locally and unlike the rudimentary cabins of Kuna Yala these are nicely decorated with local art and rugs, tiled floors, glass walled bathrooms and lots of water and electricity. Simple, but sophisticated enough.

You get the gist from the hotel publicity which boasts that Cala Mia is ‘an entirely solar powered resort … catering to an ecologically and socially aware clientele, we here in Cala Mia realize there are certain responsibilities towards the earth and its people.'

Five per cent of the price of the room goes to support the indigenous people many of whom work at the resort. So Cala Mia is not designed and made to become a “hot spot” for George W Bush-lovers.

Bizarrely it is another US President which has the place abuzz as we discover once we have teetered up the jetty and adjourned to the little terrace bar and restaurant to toast the soothing views of the Pacific.

Cala Mia’s owner, Vittoria Ghini, is expecting, well, who? She is agog. She has been given no name and is instructed not to ask for one when her guest arrives. All she knows is that she is a woman and that she requires an extra boat to carry not just an array of suitcase but her entourage.

Who is this mystery woman? Who would be so grand? Madonna? Nicole Kidman?

No such luck.

She turns out to be a glamorous woman in her Forties, maybe Fifties, trailed by two aides who stayed glued to their mobiles arranging the next stage of their journey, a local guide, her mother and her rather odd son of about ten who had a pony tail.

Despite the discretion of her guide but with the assistance of Google we discover she is called Sheila Davis Lawrence. She’s the widow of Larry Lawrence, former US ambassador to Switzerland and big Democratic Party donor. Her claim to fame – or infamy – is that she was accused of having an affair with Bill Clinton some years ago. She denied all and threatened to sue.

In a macabre twist the body of her late husband was exhumed from Arlington National Cemetery because he had claimed he warranted a military burial for serving in the merchant marines in World War II and sustained a serious head injury when his vessel was torpedoed by a German submarine. Lies, all lies.

To be fair, she didn’t seem that grand, but she did hire someone from the hotel to accompany her on a trip to a beach with the sole job of walking in front of her sprinkling cooling water on the hot sand. After two nights, she set off for a cruise on the Canal where Panama’s top chef, Charlie Collins was to prepare an on board feast.

That was the about as exciting as it got. Phew, thank goodness. The days returned to the demanding routine of getting up as the sun struck the terrace, breakfast of omelettes and fruit, lunch and a supper of fresh fish and locally grown vegetables. Not many visitors to disturb the tranquillity.

There was a rather flushed honeymoon couple from Chicago, another couple of newlyweds from Dublin (looking rather flushed) and a howler monkey who took such exception at the invasion of humans he aimed a rain of pee from the safety of his tree. Paradise comes at prices per room £110 (plus 10 per cent tax) in the low season to £275 for a bungalow suite in the high. Breakfast is included.

One feels the owners, Vittoria, who is from Italy and her Dutch husband Max Van Keeken are on a never-ending quest to find their own private paradise. Like so many ex-pats in Panama they have that restless sense of adventure.

They met in Antigua when she was working on a hotel development and he was a yachtsman with an unquenchable desire to seek new horizons.

They owned a hotel in Costa Rica before embarking on Cala Mia and live in a beautiful villa a boat ride away with glorious views of the ocean and its little archipelago of islands. Here they breed cows and make cheese, helped by indigenous Indians who they helped settle on the island.

Already there are signs of civilisation encroaching – a small resort of lodges has sprung up on the ocean side, there is a deep sea fishing club and talk of a major hotel being built. So get there soon.

Go gourmet in Boquete, Panama

2009-05-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Dirk van der Made

From Times Online
May 26, 2009

Richard Holledge found a superb tasting menu by the country's top chef in a Panamanian highlands restaurant

Surprising place, Panama. In the middle of the day in the highland town of Boquete a misty rain descends from the skies. It’s as slight as a hand held atomiser and it drops gently from the heavens just as the day threatens to become too warm.

Boquete is a charming two horse town of low buildings with tin roofs in blues, reds and rust. Set along the banks of the turbulent River Caldera it is surrounded by mountains whose flanks are lined with the straight lines of coffee plantations and peaks permanently wreathed in light clouds.

It’s quite easy to get to – a fifty minute flight from Panama City to the town of David and a forty minute drive in gentle scenery punctuated with real estate signs advertising land for sale and des reses in gated communities.

Fortune magazine’s Retirement Guide selected Boquete in 2005 as one of the five best places in the world to retire to along with Dubrovnik in Croatia, Bariloche in Argentina, Merida in Mexico and Phuket, Thailand

So that explains why there are so many balding men with pony tails, bleached women heroically squeezed into too-tight jeans and why everyone in Los Amigos cafe is eating burgers and fries, grooving along to a group vaguely reminiscent of an Eagles tribute band.

But don’t be put off. These US retirees are following in the more adventurous footsteps of the Spanish conquistadores and later by ‘49ers who stopped here on their way on their way north to California in search of gold.

Boquete is a mix of the simple and sophisticated – from the indigenous Ngobe Bugle Indian farm workers who earn ten dollars a day picking coffee during the season and live in their shacks, tending their smallholdings, to the gringos who venture from their gated security in their 4x4s to meet fellow retirees and rub shoulders with wealthy Panamanians who have fled the heat of Panama City for the calming luxury of hotels such as the Panamonte Inn or Los Establos.

We probably wouldn’t have made the detour on the way to the Pacific had it not been for Chris Parrott, an old friend who runs Journey Latin America, whose advice is free even if the hotel Panamonte Inn, which he recommended, charges from £63 for a standard room in low season to £315 for a rather splendid honeymoon suite.

The inn, which has a beautiful garden bursting with flowers, is perfect for the more energetic tourists who come to raft, ride and walk or to make the hike to the 3,478 metre peak of Volcan Baru where both the Caribbean and Pacific can be glimpsed in the distance.

Guides guarantee a sighting of the rare Resplendent Quetzal with its green-gold body, red breast and 25-inch tail but you may have to take consolation from the humming birds which whizz around every flower and shrub.

The visitors also come to smell the coffee which was introduced to the area over 100 years ago by a retired English sea captain who had met and married a Panamanian.

The plantations, such as the Finca Lerida, a few kilometres out of town, arrange tours which end with a coffee tasting session. Strange how it never tastes as good as it smells.

With its international population it is not surprising to find foreign restaurants such as the Bistro, run by ‘Loretta’ from Aspen, Colorado, or the Macchu Picchu owned by a Peruvian but to be offered a tasting menu was unexpected – and to be honest a little heart sinking.

After all, many of these bite size multi-course experiences tend to leave the diner as hungry at the end as at the hors d’oeuvres, craving a sustaining bag of chips.

The tasting was the idea of Charlie Collins, the executive chef and owner of the Panamonte Inn to celebrate the New Year.

Amazingly - it does sound a tad patronising - but, amazingly, the food was fantastic.

Okay, the first course of lobster salad parfait, smoked trout foam and quail eggs with caviar might seem a little complicated but it was delicious.

Exotic combinations followed: cappuccino of chanterelle, mushrooms and truffle essence; Patagonian lamb, cabbage and leeks in Riesling with a sherry reduction sauce. By the time the seventh and last course had been despatched – plum pudding with eggnog mousse - even the bulky American couple at the next table had surrendered in ecstasy.

Uncharacteristically, the chef did not appear to garner applause at the end of the feast – no Gordon Ramsay, thank God - but I bumped into him the next day and having enthusiastically congratulated him on his tour de force asked him what constituted true Panamanian cuisine. After all, the country is so multi-national you are just as likely to end up with a Chinese takeaway or a parillada from Argentina.

It was a challenge he couldn’t resist. He worked up another culinary masterpiece. Who could have thought the tamale, steam-cooked corn dough with meat or cheese wrapped in a corn husk could be such a subtle blend of herbs.

Plantain fritter with cassava and cheese beignet, maize pork loin roast – all basically street food – tasted as complex as a dish from Heston Blumenthal. And frankly, if you haven’t tried the tree tomato and syrup you might just as well not have gone to Panama.

Rochard Holledge travelled with Journey Latin America

The Indians of Kuna Yala, Panama

2009-05-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Paradise beaches on the Kuna Yala islands off of Panama

May 26, 2009

An independent island society off the coast of Panama retains its traditional culture in idyllic surroundings

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/destinations/latin_america/article6366147.ece

Richard Holledge

Surprising place, Panama. A few minutes from the city with its shiny new 21st century skyscrapers the plane is flying over empty rainforest.

The only sign of life below is the Trans American Highway, which in various forms starts in Alaska and comes to a stop 110 miles from the border with Colombia before continuing to the tip of the continent.

It’s a cramped, knees-up-to-the-chin, 50-minute flight which ends on a grass strip right on the water’s edge. A short walk and a boat trip to the island of Uaguinega and the tourist finds he has taken a journey into the past.

This is Kuna Yala, an autonomous state of Indians who originally settled in the Darien area of Panama after fleeing Colombia in the 1600s and then left the disease of the jungle for the sea and the islands in the 18th century. Life has been carefully - and tenaciously - frozen in time. It’s as much of a contrast with Panama City as you could imagine.

Kuna Yala is a strip of land and string of 365 islands that stretch 200 miles along the Caribbean coast. For the tourist the lure of the islands is irresistible, particularly as there are few places to stay, keeping it untouched, uncommercial and as soothing as you could hope with clear seas and palm-lined beaches and always in the distance the misty ridge of the mainland mountains like a barrier to the outside world.

Anyone expecting the bland luxury of a Four Seasons-style resort will be disappointed. The few lodges on the islands are made of the local materials, thatched in palm with walls of bamboo and shutters which are simply planks of wood.

When the winds gets up at night the cabin creaks and billows like a yacht under full sail. The electricity – in the form of a 40 watt bulb - is switched on at six and off at eleven, the facilities are simple with water warmed by solar power.

Food is invariably fish or lobster with tamales and plantain. And don’t expect anything as 20th century as a television. But that’s the appeal, even if Dolphin Lodge, which is one of the biggest resorts with 11 cabins, costs £194 a night per person.

Tour operator Journey Latin America offer a two-night three-day package from Panama City including flights and transfers for £372 per person.

The Kuna have fought, literally, to keep things simple. In 1925 an armed group attacked the Panamanian police who had been involved in the violent suppression of Kuna cultural practices by the government and in 1930 they were granted their independence rather in the way Scotland has its own administration.

Ever since, the Kunu Yala – 72,000 of them - have been determined to preserve their traditional life. The islands are tightly packed with one-roomed houses of bamboo, smoke spiralling from an open fire. Small shops sell crisps, biscuits, washing powder and tins of meat. Simple cafes serve Coke to the few tourists, each island has a school and a square for basketball.

The men work on their fishing nets, the waters alive with boats struggling against the waves with outboard engines, paddles and scrawny sails. One of their biggest catches is lobsters, most of which end up on tables in Colombia and Panama City.

Each island has its own identity. Utupu a stomach–turning one and a half hours through a heavy swell demands a $4 dollar entry fee and is like a little bamboo Venice with bridges over lagoons and houses built around inlets.

No pictures are allowed unless you pay one dollar – then it’s not a problem. The men of Utupu provided a spectacular side show. Our guide took us to a yard where a tapir – a sort of pig with a long nose - had been caught. Its head sat in a washing up bowl while the hunters enthusiastically hacked its body to bloody pieces in a dug out canoe. Well, that was the village’s supper looked after.

It seems a civilised and gentle society (unless you are a tapir) though it is hard to tell after only a few days. Co-operative labour is still the norm - they all take it in turns to sweep the dusty lanes, for example - but there is no escaping the fact that they are poor, relying on the 30,000 plus who live in Panama City to send home money.

They have over-fished their waters and increasingly have to turn to tourism to make a living. The biggest source of income, after the few lodges, is the sale of the traditional embroidery which enlivens the costumes of Kuna women.

Known as molas, they consist of a patterned blue cotton wrapped skirt, red and yellow headscarf, arm and leg beads, gold nose rings and earrings and the many layered and finely sewn blouses with patterns of flowers, sea animals and birds. Brightly-coloured leggings complete the ensemble. It is striking how few dress in western style even when they move to Panama City.

As the tourists stroll on the island of Achutupu, right across the water from Dolphin Lodge, they are soon caught up in a non stop display of wares. It’s all very gentle with women, grannies and children gathering outside their houses holding up their embroidery. There is no attempt to haggle or harass and everything seems to cost five dollars.

Our guide took us to meet his family, as he probably does with every group of tourists, to entice us to buy molas and good luck charms. His young bride and new baby lolled on a hammock, a talking doll beside her, still in its wrapping. It was her christening present, reciting, at a push of its stomach, 'Have a Nice Day' in an American accent.

The mola is the most striking symbol of the Kuna’s independent spirit but maybe the most admirable feature of their society is simply that it has survived with much of its unique cultural identity intact. Despite the talking doll.

Richard Holledge travelled with Journey Latin America

Caterpillar CEO says Panama trade pact would be good for his business

2009-05-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2341773/

Fri. May 22, 2009; Posted: 10:29 AM

Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens testified Thursday before the U.S. Senate finance committee in support of the Trade Promotion Agreement between the United States and Panama.

"Time and time again, we have seen the benefits of expanding our opportunities for trade," Owens said.

"In 2008 alone, Caterpillar exported more than $16 billion in products from the U.S., supporting tens of thousands of jobs."

Some senators are unhappy, however. Before there can be trade talk, they insist Panama clean up its bank secrecy laws which have turned it into a tax haven said to be robbing the United States of billions in tax revenues.

But Caterpillar said there is plenty of legitimate business to be done in Panama, only right now, company equipment sold to Panamanian companies carries up to a 10 percent sales tariff.

Caterpillar said tacking 10 percent on to the multi-million cost of the world's biggest off-road trucks built in Decatur hurts sales.

"Look at it this way," said Caterpillar spokesman Jim Dugan."If you were going to buy a new car, are choosing between two relatively identical vehicles, but one of them costs 10 percent less right off the bat, well, that is going to get your attention.

If this agreement passes, that 10 percent tariff goes away."

Dugan said Panama will definitely be in the market for the monster trucks and road graders built in Decatur.

The Panama Canal, the 95-year-old water bridge between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is due for a massive upgrade to expand its capacity to handle the giant cargo ships plying the seas today.

"Caterpillar customers who buy and use our machines built in Decatur will be bidding on this work," Dugan added.

And Caterpillar said that history shows every time a trade agreement is concluded, sales shoot up.

After the North American Free Trade Agreement, for example, Caterpillar exports to Canada and Mexico quadrupled. After a free trade agreement was signed with Chile, Caterpillar exports to that country tripled.

"A lot of those exports to Chile are mining trucks built in Decatur," said Dugan. "A lot of those exports to Canada are mining trucks built in Decatur. Those agreements are good for customers, good for Caterpillar and good for our employees."

treid@herald-review.com421-7977

Hilton Hotels Corporation Announces Return to Panama with Four Properties

2009-05-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4041418.search?query=hospitality+net+panama

New Hotels in Panama City Reinforce Company’s Commitment to Grow in Central America

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. Hilton Hotels Corporation announces its return to Panama with the signing of four multi-year agreements in Panama City, Panama: two management agreements for a brand-new Hilton and new build Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel, one franchise agreement for a Doubletree by Hilton™ conversion and one franchise agreement for a newly built Hilton Garden Inn. Each hotel will represent the first in the country for each brand.

“We are truly excited about these developments in Panama City and being back in such a great city,” commented Daniel Hughes, senior vice president of operations, Caribbean, Mexico, and Latin America, for Hilton Hotels Corporation. “These newest additions reinforce our commitment to add a number of properties to our Central America portfolio and to have a presence in one of the region’s fastest growing destinations. We’re looking forward to being part of a thriving city that continues to offer some of the best tourist attractions in the region.”

The 351-room Hilton Panama will be a first class property developed by Star Bay Group, Inc., and Hilton Hotels Corporation will operate the hotel under the terms of a multi-year management agreement.

Led by F&F Properties and its president Saul Faskha, construction of the Hilton Panama has begun and completion is scheduled for 2011. Located in Panama City’s financial district, the hotel marks the Hilton brand’s return to the capital.

Just 13 miles from Tocumen International Airport and five miles from the Panama Canal, the Hilton Panama will boast an array of recreational facilities including an 8,200 square-foot fitness center, a 10,750 square-foot world-class spa, outdoor terrace swimming pool, and a Las Vegas-style casino.

The property will have more than 22,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 7,500 square-foot ballroom. Dining options will include an upscale specialty restaurant, a three-meal restaurant with outdoor terrace and ocean views, and lobby bar. The 27-floor hotel will form part of a 68-floor mixed-use complex with 650,000 square feet of office space.

The Embassy Suites by Hilton Panama City will be developed by Sabadell Investment Inc. and Hilton Hotels Corporation will operate the hotel under the terms of a multi-year management agreement. Construction of the 306-room upscale, all-suite full service Embassy Suites by Hilton Panama City is scheduled to begin in 2009 with an estimated completion date of October 2011. Located in the prime financial district of Panama City, the hotel is approximately 12 miles from Tocumen International Airport and will feature a number of recreational facilities including fitness center, spa, outdoor swimming pool, gift shops, and casino.

The property will offer a business center and more than 15,500 square feet of meeting space, including a 12,750 square-foot ballroom. Dining options will include a signature restaurant, a lounge bar, complimentary breakfast and evening reception area, and Flying Spoons outlet. The 21-floor hotel will be part of 71-story building with premier office space.

The Doubletree by Hilton Panama City will be developed and operated by Blue Star Hospitality, S.A., under a franchise agreement with Hilton Hotels Corporation. The 213-room property is undergoing an extensive renovation to re-brand as a Doubletree by Hilton hotel in Spring 2010.

The eight-story hotel is strategically located at one of the city’s most important intersections in the business district - Via España and Avenida Federico Boyd - across from the architecturally striking Iglesia del Carmen. The Doubletree by Hilton Panama City will offer a rooftop fitness center, pool and spa, retail outlets, 2,000 square feet of meetings space, and a full-service restaurant.

Developed by Metropolitan Hotels SA, the Hilton Garden Inn Panama will feature 163 spacious guestrooms and seven suites offering the Garden Sleep System® bed; ergonomic Mirra® chair by Herman Miller; complimentary wired and Wi-Fi high speed Internet access; high definition flat screen television; MP3 capable clock radio. The hotel also features a complimentary 24-hour business center; a comfortable lounge area to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning or unwind at the end of the day with a refreshing beverage; and a total of 160 square meters of flexible meeting space -- ideal for business meetings, social events and wedding receptions.

For dining options, the hotel will feature the Great American Grill® restaurant offering freshly prepared breakfast and dinner; evening room service and the 24-hour Pavilion Pantry® convenience mart with a selection of beverages, snacks, and sundries. Recreational facilities at the hotel will include an outdoor rooftop heated whirlpool; complimentary fitness center featuring Precor® cardio and strength equipment; and Stay Fit Kits® that can be checked out from the hotel front desk and enable guests to do yoga, Pilates and core workouts in the privacy of their guestroom or in the workout facility.

All properties will participate in Hilton HHonors®, the only guest rewards program that allows members to earn Points & Miles® for the same stay and redeem points for free nights with No Blackout Dates.

Ted Middleton, senior vice president, development, the Americas, for Hilton Hotels Corporation commented, “Hilton’s expansion in Panama City is part of our overall plan to grow our portfolio of properties in the Caribbean and Latin America. Owners and developers understand the value of our brands and we are very optimistic about our growth opportunities in the region.”

Panama City is the political and cultural center of Panama, and the financial center of Central America. Located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, the city is well known as the home of some of the tallest skyscrapers in Latin America. Tourists can explore a variety of attractions including the famous Bridge of the Americas spanning over the Panama Canal, tropical forests, and the city’s old quarter featuring a waterfront promenade, theaters, museums, restaurants, and the presidential palace.

CONTACT

Karla ViscontiDirector of Communications - Caribbean & Latin AmericaUnited States - Phone: (786) 866-7240Fax: (786) 866-7261Email: karla.visconti@hilton.com

ORGANIZATION

Hilton Hotels Corporationhttp://www.hiltonworldwide.com9336 Civic Center Dr.USA - Beverly Hills, CA 90210Phone: +1 310-278-4321Fax: +1 310-205-4599Email: info@hilton.com

HOLMES: Free trade as a stimulus strategy

2009-05-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/14/free-trade-as-a-stimulus-strategy/

OPINION/ANALYSIS:

Most people agree that, when it comes to economic recovery, more economic activity is better than less. When companies buy and sell more goods and services, we get more jobs and growth.

Yet, for some reason, this obvious fact eludes those who want to constrain America's access to overseas markets. At a time when government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars it doesn't have on doubtful "stimulus" initiatives, you've got to wonder why some politicians continue to argue against free trade agreements. After all, these pacts have a proven track record. Trade has created millions of jobs and is responsible for almost a third of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

Three free trade agreements (FTA) are currently in play in Washington. Two of them - pacts with Colombia and South Korea - are in trouble due to union opposition. Despite claiming to be in favor of free trade, the Obama administration has not been willing to buck big labor and push for these deals. The third pending agreement, with Panama, has brighter prospects. President Obama seems willing to push Congress on this one because it has the least opposition from Democrats and unions, and also because it is an economic "no-brainer."

The U.S. has a huge trade surplus with Panama, which bought almost $5 billion worth of U.S. goods in 2008. For every dollar of Panamanian imports coming to the U.S., American businesses sell $10 worth of goods and services there. Until this year's crisis, Panama's booming banking, insurance and tourism sectors were fueling economic growth of about 6 percent per year. Efforts to improve financial transparency led the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to remove Panama from its blacklist of tax havens and money launderers, making it even more attractive for foreign investment.

But last week, after the White House indicated it could soon send the Panama FTA to Congress for a straight up or down vote, anti-trade House Democrats began mobilizing against it. Panama, they insist, remains a haven for tax evaders. Moreover, they oppose its labor laws, which prevent unions from striking at companies less than 2 years old. These opponents want to use the trade agreement to force a friend to change its laws.

Doubtless to their surprise, 20 members of the New Democrat Coalition in the House disagreed. Led by California's Ellen O. Tauscher, they sent a letter supporting the FTA to Mr. Obama, calling it "economically beneficial for the United States and American businesses."

They are right.

Approving the agreement will give American businesses and farmers greater access to Panama's market. Most Panamanian goods already enter the U.S. duty-free under long-standing trade preference programs, so no U.S. consumer or business would suffer as a result of this agreement.

Almost 90 percent of U.S. manufacturing exports to Panama would immediately become duty-free, and any remaining tariffs would phase out over 10 years. Moreover, more than 60 percent of American agricultural exports to Panama would get duty-free treatment upon the agreement's implementation, and any remaining tariffs in that sector would phase out over the next 15 years.

Similar arguments could be made for the trade deals with Colombia and South Korea. But in the end, the larger case for free trade agreements has to be made on the basis of how they help American families and workers, not on the sometimes fine microeconomic and diplomatic points that are lost on most Americans.

More than 57 million Americans are employed by firms that engage in international trade. Why are the unions not out there fighting for free trade agreements to expand their wages and job security?

What's more, free trade agreements account for more than a third of U.S. trade worldwide. The Obama administration should make FTAs a centerpiece of its stimulus effort. Expanding trade - a sector of the economy that accounts for 30 percent of GDP - should be high on the list of things that need to be done.

So far, however, free trade is not on Mr. Obama's to-do list. Indeed, shortly after taking office, he caved to protectionists' pressure and tightened Buy America provisions in the stimulus bill. The rest of the world, rightly remembering the bad marriage between trade protectionism and the Great Depression, howled. Clearly the embrace of the Panama free trade agreement is meant to counter the image of Mr. Obama as a trade protectionist.

I'm all for presidents correcting their mistakes, but trade policy should be based on substance, not image. If the president wants to be seen as a free trader - and even more important, if he wants to stimulate the economy - he should put the South Korea and Colombia deals on the table as well.

&#8226 Kim R. Holmes, a former assistant secretary of state, is a vice president at the Heritage Foundation (Heritage.org) and co-editor of the "2009 Index of Economic Freedom."

Historic Dredge Mindi to Be Replaced at Panama Canal

2009-05-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.thelog.com/news/logNewsArticle.aspx?x=9444

By: Capt. Pat Rains Friday, May 15, 2009 2:02:00 PM

PANAMA — As the Panama Canal expansion project gains speed, the historic dredge vessel Mindi is proving costly to replace.

The Authority of the Canal of Panama (ACP) announced last week that it had awarded a $95.92 million contract to a Dutch company, IHC Beaver Dredgers B.V., to build a new dredge vessel to replace the elderly Mindi.

“Everyone waves to Mindi in passing,” said Pete Stevens, an agent for yachts in Panama. Well known to mariners who have transited the Panama Canal, the 125-foot-long dredge vessel Mindi has been in active service since 1942, working in the Gaillard Cut — the narrowest stretch in the Panama Canal — and often moored in Gamboa.

Mindi’s submerged drill bit operates off a large crane on the bow, and tailings removed from the bottom are directed to shore in floating pipelines. The two-story cabin houses up to 20 working crewmembers at a time. Tugs are often used to keep Mindi’s dredging end in position, as anchors could be fouled by the dredging process.

Because Mindi’s capacity of 9,000 kw (12,064 hp) isn’t sufficient for widening the Panama Canal for the new generation of post-Panamax vessels, the new Beaver dredge will have a 12,000 kw (16,086 hp) capacity.

To be constructed in the Netherlands, the new dredge vessel will be able to dig down to 25 meters, and it will operate not just in the narrow part of the canal but also in Gatun Lake and both Atlantic and Pacific entrances outside the new locks, according to the ACP.

Meanwhile, pleasureboaters transiting the Panama Canal over the next two years can still wave goodbye to Mindi: The new Beaver dredge vessel isn’t scheduled to arrive in Panama until May 2011. The Panama Canal expansion is scheduled to be finished in 2013.

US Senate panel sets hearing on Panama trade deal

2009-05-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

Thu May 14, 2009 6:33pm EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN1451468220090514

By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing next week on a free trade pact with Panama that has been delayed by U.S. concerns over that country's tax and labor laws, the panel said on Thursday.

The agreement is one of three free trade deals negotiated by the administration of former President George W. Bush that have been awaiting congressional action since 2007.
Approval of the Panama agreement is widely seen as clearing the way for action on more controversial trade deals with Colombia and South Korea.

Many U.S. businesses, such as Caterpillar (CAT.N), also want Congress to pass the deal to give them an advantage over foreign competitors in selling goods and equipment needed for a major expansion of the Panama Canal already underway.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told Reuters last week he saw "a window" to pass the Panama agreement before current Panama President Martin Torrijos step downs on July 1.

But Panama needs to enact a number of labor reforms and address U.S. concerns about its tax haven laws, Kirk said.

U.S. trade officials have been in Panama this week for talks on the issue, which many Democrats want completely resolved before President Barack Obama formally submits the agreement to Congress for a vote.

Everett Eissenstat, assistant U.S. trade representative for Western Hemisphere affairs, is expected to testify on the results of that trip at the Senate hearing next Thursday.

Representative Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican who has pushed for quick action on the Panama deal, said it made sense for lawmakers to begin reviewing the agreement since it appears likely the White House "will send it up soon."

Once a trade pact is formally submitted to Congress, lawmakers have 90 days to approve or reject the agreement without making changes.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by Alan Elsner)

Panama confirms first case of A/H1N1 flu

2009-05-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

www.chinaview.cn

2009-05-09 03:54:21

PANAMA, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Panama's Heath Minister Rosario Turner confirmed on Friday the country's first case of A/H1N1 flu, a young man who traveled to the United States recently.

Turner said at a press conference that the patient was quarantined in his house, so were his relatives and people who had contact with him.

"The patient is in a stable condition and is being treated in his house," she said.

The patient returned from the United States 14 days ago, and developed flu-like symptoms shortly afterwards. The infection was confirmed through laboratory tests, she said.

Turner said the Panamanian sanitary authorities will continue with nationwide contingency measures to keep the virus from spreading.

"We will strengthen the epidemic vigilance, the control at airports and the education of people," she said.

Turner also said that so far, there have been 34 suspected cases, among whom 27 were discarded and seven are waiting for test results.

Meanwhile, Gladis Guerrero, director of Epidemiology Department of the Health Ministry, said it is not necessary to suspend school activities.

The contingency measures adopted by the Panamanian government include the purchase of 70,000 doses of Tamiflu and the establishment of a fund of 5 million U.S. dollars against the disease.

Panama to award USD 5.25 billion expansion contract by July

2009-05-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/05/08/OTM2MjA%3D/Panama_to_award_USD_5.25_billion_expansion_contract_by_July.html

Friday, 08 May 2009

The Panama Canal Authority expects to award the biggest contract for its USD 5.25 billion expansion project in June or July 2009.

Mr Alberto Aleman president said that experts are reviewing the technical aspects of the bids of three consortia received in April before the bid prices are formally unsealed.He added that "The bids are in a vault in a bank and we expect that some time in June or July when we are finished with all the technical analysis we will have a public opening of the bids. By the end of the year we should have around 96% of the contracts awarded and working. The expansion is proceeding very well, very much in the time that we intended."

Mr Aleman said that the canal expects shipping volumes to decline by 5% this year due to the global economic slowdown but an increase in transit fees imposed on May 1st 2009 should keep revenue flat at USD 2 billion as compared with 2008.

The Authority last week reached out to the troubled container shipment sector, charging ships carrying cargoes of 30 percent or less than their rated capacity as if they were empty, and relaxing reservation system penalties.

Mr Aleman said that grain traffic is up this year, thanks to more shipments from the Mississippi basin to Asian markets. Auto carrier and container traffic has fallen, forcing shippers to consolidate routes. Cruise ship traffic, which is a small percentage of canal revenue, is up slightly as cruise ships begin spending more time in Panama on a general trend of increased tourism.

(Sourced from Reuters)

Pass Panama FTA

2009-05-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=3377

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Questions regarding Panama's labor regulations and status as an offshore financial center are not sufficient to keep the FTA on hold.

BY RAY WALSER

On May 3 Latin America's leftward lurch suffered a setback when Ricardo Martinelli, candidate of the center-right Alliance for Change, swept into the Panamanian presidency with a resounding victory. The 57-year-old Martinelli is a U.S.-educated supermarket entrepreneur who used the acumen and skill that made him one of Panama's wealthier citizens to win the presidential election.

Winning over 60 percent of the vote, Martinelli defeated Balbina Herrea, candidate of the governing center-left Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD). Unable to shake concerns about her past association with General Manuel Noriega and the voters' suspicion of her links to Venezuela's populist president Hugo Chávez. Ms. Herrera received approximately 37 percent of the vote.

ELECTORAL DISCONTENT

Although the outgoing government of PDR President Martin Torrijos was marked by a reduction in poverty and economic growth, electoral discontent rose as Panama's economy began to contract following the 2008 slowdown in global trade and a slump in the construction boom.

The modest success of poverty reduction under the PRD, from 35 percent to about 28 percent of Panama's population, appeared to falter in 2008 as food prices rose swiftly and income inequality remained a sensitive political issue.

Panamanian voters were also troubled by increases in violent crime and a perception that high-level corruption remained endemic within the PRD government. A Martinelli campaign theme charged that, "They [the PRD] enter government empty-handed and leave rich."

As a campaigner Martinelli successfully capitalized on his image as a "doer," a pragmatist, and a potential leader ready to serve the interests of have-nots as well as the haves. Martinelli promises to promote market growth, exercise vigilance against corruption, and to develop Panama's infrastructure with modern ports, highways, and a mass transportation system.

Martinelli faces several challenges including the need to strengthen government institutions; increase government transparency and integrity; and fulfill promises for greater economic prosperity.

CLOSE U.S. LINKS

Martinelli will certainly look to the United States for support. Panama is a vital bridge for east-west commercial movement with increased potential for pipelines and other forms of land-based movement of goods and raw materials. It also sits on the north-south axis of the inter-American drug trade.

Consequently, Panama must work with Colombia to deny territory to guerrillas and paramilitaries and help to stop the flow of cocaine north toward Mexico and the United States. As a member of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Panama is well-positioned to work with its northern neighbors on issues related to security, counter-drug cooperation, trade, and the environment.

In June 2007, the United States and Panama signed a Trade Promotion Agreement. Panama ratified the treaty in July of the same year. If enacted by the U.S. Congress, the agreement will result in significant new market access and lower tariffs for America's businesses and farmers; most Panamanian products already enter the U.S. duty-free under trade preference programs.

Currently, U.S. exports to Panama are ten times greater than imports. Because Panama already has preferential access to U.S. markets, any competitive impact on U.S. industry and jobs has already occurred. Instead, the agreement will result only in new economic opportunities for America's exporters and the U.S. businesses that support them.

Recent questions regarding Panama's labor regulations and status as an offshore financial center are not sufficient to keep the deal on hold: The need to maintain sound labor standards is already addressed and protected appropriately within the agreement and the broader issue of U.S. access to international tax havens is one that is and should be debated by Congress on its own merits.

Finally, Panama has aggressively sought to become a destination for American investors and remains extremely friendly to a growing number of U.S. retirees.

END OF LEFTIST WINS

The Martinelli victory breaks the Latin Left's 2009 electoral winning streak of Venezuela, El Salvador, and Ecuador. The average voter in Panama is betting on a dynamic and productive relationship with the United States and has demonstrated confidence in continued strong ties between the two nations.

It is incumbent on the Obama Administration to reach out quickly to President-elect Martinelli in order to develop an agenda of close cooperation and mutual benefit. Specifically, the Obama Administration should do the following:

Establish a timetable for submitting the 2009 Trade Agenda agreement for Congressional approval;

Act quickly to strengthen regional law enforcement and counter-drug cooperation with Panama and make sure that Panama receives its full share of Merida Initiative funding; and

Embrace President-elect Martinelli's interest in combating corruption and strengthening the effectiveness of government institutions by working with Panama on rule of law and anti-corruption measures.

Panama is an important U.S. ally in the Americas. President-elect Martinelli's victory now offers the opportunity to strengthen this relationship—to the benefit of both countries

Ray Walser, Ph.D., is Senior Policy Analyst for Latin America in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

PANAMA'S “LAID-UP” REGISTER

2009-05-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.mgn.com/news/dailystorydetails.cfm?storyid=9891

Friday, 08 May 2009

THE Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) has created a special registry for vessels registered under the flag of Panama that are laid up due to the world financial crisis. The measure reduces registry fees by 40% to 50% and the vessels included in the Laid Up Registry need neither full crew manning nor regular inspections.

According to a press statement the special registry will be valid for one-year period, and could be extended by one additional year.

The Resolution 106-09 of February 9, 2009 that creates the Special Registry, warns the owner or ship operators that the vessel, registered under the Lay Up Special Registry Patent cannot be used for navigation and should comply will all the minimum safety and pollution prevention requirements for the purpose of not being a potential danger to the environment or the port where the vessel is laid up.

“If the vessel does not comply with this regulation it could be deleted for our registry, according to the formalities of the law,” says the Merchant Marine Director General Alfonso Castillero.

“We consider it was necessary to take administrative actions to mitigate the crisis and reduce our customers and ship owners’ actual financial load,” adds Mr. Castillero.

“The owner can reactivate the vessel whenever he decides to do it, providing there is an inspection by a Recognized Organization (RO) covering the following conditions: safety, contamination prevention, marine protection and compliance with all national and international regulations applicable to the vessel, after which the RO will certify that the vessel satisfies national and international regulations.”

Panama’s Merchant Marine totalled 8,487 vessels and 180 179m gt at the end of March, keeping its position as the largest register.

Opposition leader wins Panama's presidency

2009-05-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last update: 12:19 p.m. EDT May 4, 2009

PANAMA CITY, Panama, May 4, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Opposition leader Ricardo Martinelli won Panama's presidential election, the country's election tribunal said.

Martinelli, of the conservative Democratic Change party, defeated former Panamanian Housing Minister Balbina Herrera of the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party, CNN reported.

"This is a victory for all the people of Panama," Martinelli said. "And I make a call to all our opposition -- to all the parties that opposed us -- that you all are all Panamanians. ... Tomorrow we have to start a new day."

Panama's electoral tribunal declared Martinelli, a supermarket magnate, the victor after counting 43 percent of the votes cast Sunday, saying he had an insurmountable lead -- 61 percent to 36 percent over Herrera, the Los Angeles Times said.

A sinking economy, rising crime and dissatisfaction with President Martin Torrijos undermined Herrera's campaign, the newspaper said.

"Starting on July 1, a change is coming to Panama," Martinelli told supporters at his headquarters in Panama City.

www.upi.com

Supermarket magnate wins Panama presidential vote

2009-05-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVmoUid1B9iHGVZKdvHE7IU76BAgD97V368O2

By KATHIA MARTINEZ – 2 hours ago

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama's Electoral Tribunal says conservative supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli has won the Central American nation's presidential elections.

Tribunal President Erasmo Pinilla says that with 44 percent of the votes counted Martinelli is the "indisputable winner" of Sunday's voting.

Martinelli, of the opposition Alliance for Change, topped former Housing Minister Balbina Herrera of Panama's governing coalition, which is led by the Democratic Revolutionary Party.
Pinilla said he telephoned Martinelli to inform him of his victory.

The winner, whose term ends in 2014, will have to guide Panama through the world economic crisis and the $5.25 billion expansion of the canal to increase its capacity and accommodate larger ships.

Panama elects Martinelli

2009-05-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Panama's presidential candidate Ricardo Martinelli clasps hands with his running mate Juan Carlos Varela during his victory speech in Panama City, Sunday, May 3, 2009. Panama's Electoral Tribunal announced the supermarket magnate Martinelli won the Central American nation's presidential elections.
ARNULFO FRANCO / AP

PANAMA CITY, Panama -- Panamanian supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli won Sunday's presidential election after a campaign criticizing the ruling party's performance on crime, living costs and U.S. relations.

Martinelli, the owner of a supermarket chain called Super 99, defeated Balbina Herrera, a former housing minister in the current government, the electoral board announced at a news conference in Panama City. The final results of the vote were not immediately released.

Martinelli, 57, inherits a slowing economy and a free-trade agreement stalled in the U.S. Congress on concerns about Panama's tax and labor laws.

Going into the election Martinelli, of the opposition Alliance for Change, had a double-digit lead in the polls over Herrera, the candidate of the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party.

Martinelli, whose term ends in 2014, will have to guide Panama through a $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal to increase its capacity and accommodate larger ships.

Few problems were reported despite heavy turnout at the country's 2,382 voting stations, observers from the Organization of American States said in a preliminary report issued after polls closed.

The candidates cast their ballots and talked of unity, regardless of the outcome.

''I believe in God and the Panamanian people,'' Herrera said at a school in the capital.

''Both winners and losers must work to improve the country,'' Martinelli said. ``Our problems don't end with an election.''

The winner takes office July 1, replacing President Martin Torrijos.

Both Martinelli, 57, and Herrera, 54, supported the canal expansion, but recent world economic woes have generated uncertainty over the project, which is receiving $2.3 billion in international financing.

The canal project, which was approved in a 2006 referendum, is expected to create about 5,000 direct jobs in the small Central American nation between 2010 and 2011, when construction is at its peak, according to authorities.

The project would be ''one of the points most closely attended to'' by a Martinelli government, said Roberto Henriquez, vice president of Martinelli's political party.

Panama's economy grew by an annual average of 8.7 percent over the past five years, and unemployment fell from 12 percent to 5.6 percent. The growth was fueled by foreign and state investment by the outgoing government of President Martin Torrijos. Growth this year is projected to be 3-4 percent.

Also running was Guillermo Endara, a longshot candidate who served as president from 1989-1994.

Panamanians also elected a vice president, members of Congress, mayors and other local officials. More than 2.2 million people were eligible to vote, and the country's Elections Tribunal said it expected turnout of more than 75 percent.

PANAMA ELECTIONS 2009

2009-05-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

VISIT http://www.tribunal-electoral.gob.pa/

A fight against poverty and vandalism in Panama

2009-05-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.visitpanama.com/

Along with the Tourism Assistants, meet the historical balconies of the San Felipe neighborhood, that show neoclassic and colonial architecture.

The program called “Tourist Assistants”, is an idea the Minister of Tourism of Panama, Rubén Blades had at the end of the year 2004. He met with a group of younsters, all of them former gang members from popular areas of Panamá in the Washington Hotel in Colon City. In this meeting he explained his desire to implement a program where they could become tourist assistants after receiving full and complete training.

Once the program was accomplished with the former gang members from the San Felipe area who had been trained in tourism and the history of Panama, good manners, safety rules and basic english during a 6 month period, during which they received a monthly basic payment with the purpose of helping them leave their old habits and start a new and better life.

The program was intended to last 6 months only, but due to the positive response it had, it was extended indefinitely and it is still carried on successfully with about 100 participants.

The program now includes others who are in social risks like university students and high school graduates. This program is also being implemented in other areas of tourist interests like in the highlands, beaches, central provinces and in the International Airport of Tocumen.

After interviewing the assistants in their working environment, we realized they were feeling safe and grateful to the program.

Andrés Beckford, a 28 year old who has been working as a tourist assistant for two years and a half said: “This program has changed my life and the life of my family. My wife was 5 months pregnant and I was unemployed when I was offered this opportunity. In that very moment I felt it was my chance to improve myself. They taught me real values and place in society. Then, they trained me in different areas like basic english, history of the Old Quarter, communication skills, and much more.

José Uno, another 24 year old in the program, mentioned: “People have no idea of how many tourists comes by every day. Thanks to this program, we are able to give them full information about the place and the historical monuments. It would be great that more people could know about us, since most of the tourists, when they get here, already have a tour operator or a guide. We are here in the Old Quarter every day working as a team and there exists great communication between all of us. And the most important fact is that we are being paid for this work and this allows us to stay away from crime and vandalism.

So far, the success of this program has been measured based on the satisfaction of San Felipe residents, tourists, and especially the tourist assistants, who have been able to change their lives.

In some cases, tourist assistant services have permanently hired them to work in their business.

Panama Canal Expansion Update

2009-05-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

Panama Canal Expansion Update:

Atlantic Dredging Contract Maintains Momentum

http://www.pancanal.com/

MEETS WITH BIDDERS; EXTENDS PROPOSAL DEADLINE

PANAMA CITY, Panama, April 30, 2009 - The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) held a site visit and pre-bid conference this week to discuss the Atlantic Entrance Dredging Project under the waterway's Expansion Program.

International dredging and excavation contractors, and equipment and service providers participated in the two-day event. Held April 29-30, it included a tour of the future Atlantic dredging and excavation areas, as well as the designated in-land disposal sites and a meeting where the ACP provided details on the project, including information on the extended proposal deadline.

On February 27, the ACP released its request for proposals (RFP) for the Atlantic dredging. In response to bidder requests, the ACP provided a two-week extension to June 30 for a geotechnical study and evaluation in Canal waters. As such, the ACP also extended the proposal due date from July 15 to July 30.

This project is an essential part of the Canal's expansion to ensure that larger, wider ships can reach the new locks. It lowers the Canal bottom to 15.5 meters below the mean sea level and includes the dredging of approximately 15 million cubic meters and 800 thousand cubic meters of dry excavation.

The ACP will award the Atlantic dredging contract to the lowest bidder complying with all the contract requirements. This dredging project's expected completion date is during the second quarter of 2013.

About the Panama Canal Authority The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is the autonomous agency of the Government of Panama in charge of managing, operating and maintaining the Panama Canal. The ACP is governed by its organic law and the regulations approved by its Board of Directors. For more information, please refer to the Panama Canal Authority's Web site: http://www.pancanal.com/.

Influenza A(H1N1) - Update 9

2009-05-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.who.int/en/

2 May 2009

The situation continues to evolve. As of 06:00 GMT, 2 May 2009, 15 countries have officially reported 615 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

Mexico has reported 397 confirmed human cases of infection, including 16 deaths. The 241 rise in cases from Mexico compared to 23:30GMT of 1 May reflects ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. The United States Government has reported 141 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (34), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Denmark (1), France (1), Germany (4), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), Republic of Korea (1), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (13).

Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.

There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.

Ocean cargo/global logistics: Panama Canal transit to become less expensive in June

2009-05-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Patrick Burnson
Executive Editor
Logistics Management, 5/1/2009

PANAMA CITY—Despite earlier signals of an economic rebound, the Panama Canal Authority is giving carriers a break on rates through the summer.

Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced a temporary plan that will provide short-term cost reduction and greater flexibility to its Reservation System. The temporary measures, designed to help mitigate the impact of the economic crisis on the Canal's clients, were approved by the ACP Board of Directors earlier in the week, said spokesmen.

The result of informal consultations with clients, the temporary measures will take effect June 1, 2009 and continue through September 30, 2009.

The two primary components comprise a redefinition of ballast (ships without cargo) for full container vessels transiting the Canal along with modifications to the reservation system to increase flexibility and reduce fees.

In an interview with LM earlier this year, Alberto Alemán Zubieta, administrator and CEO of ACP said shippers could expect a more robust recovery.

“Our economic advisors are studying trends pointing to a rebound in shipping,” he said. “Our findings suggest a recovery at the end of 2009 or early 2010.”

And while the latest news does not directly contradict that observation, it indicates that business is still lagging behind a bullish forecast.

Carriers will now have 30 days before the date of a vessel's transit to request slot substitutions without additional costs. Previously, carriers could make such requests without an additional charge if that request was made at least 60 days prior to the date of transit. This temporary measure grants shipping lines more flexibility for slot substitutions, allowing them to replace one vessel for another with similar dimensions.

The ACP will also modify the definition of ballast for full container vessels, allowing a ship that carries 30 percent or less of its capacity to be charged the ballast rate of $57.60 per twenty-equivalent unit (TEU) $14.40 less than the $72 laden (ships with cargo) rate.

Meanwhile, the base reservation price is being reduced depending on the vessel size for all segments that use the ACP’s Reservation System. For example, the base reservation price for a super vessel, with a beam greater than or equal to 100 feet and a length greater than or equal to 900 feet, is reduced by $5,000 per transit.

Currently, when vessels fail to arrive on-schedule, they lose their slot, but have the option to pay an additional charge to keep the reservation and transit that same day. The new temporary measure reduces the charges and provides shipping lines with greater flexibility. The percentage reduction varies depending on the vessel's arrival time.

Carriers will now have 30 days before the date of a vessel’s transit to request slot substitutions without additional costs. Previously, customers could make such requests without an additional charge if that request was made at least 60 days prior to the date of transit.

“This temporary measure grants shipping lines more flexibility for slot substitutions, allowing them to replace one vessel for another with similar dimensions,” said spokesmen.

Panama Canal to Cut Some Tolls in June

2009-05-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy Panama Canal Authority

Peter T. Leach

May 1, 2009 1:09PM GMT

The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story

Increases take effect May 1 but concessions to mitigate economic crisis

In a concession to financially pressed shipping lines, the Panama Canal Authority will cut back some tolls and fees while giving carriers greater flexibility in reserving movements through the canal.

But the canal authority also left in place new toll increases going into effect May 1, rejecting calls to put off the increases.

The new fee structure starting June 1 will temporarily reduce tolls on largely empty containerships and charges for transit reservations. The canal authority said the temporary measures are “designed to help mitigate the impact of the crisis on the Canal’s clients.”

Because of the global economic recession and the resulting slump in trade, the major global shipping lines and shipping organizations have been urging the canal authority to delay the toll increases that went into effect May 1.

But a reduction in tolls on ships in ballast and in reservation fees from June 1 to Sept. 30 of this year are the only concessions the authority was willing to make.

Major container lines have expected some kind of reduction in canal costs. Rodolphe Saade, chief executive vice president of CMA CGM, told The Journal of Commerce last month that the line was in discussions with both the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal authorities about lowering tolls or postponing scheduled toll increases.

“They do understand the situation. It seems that the Panama Canal is ready to make a move, while we have not heard yet from the Suez Authority,” Saade said.

Other container lines have been investigating ways to avoid the tolls altogether. Maersk Line, for example, told The Journal of Commerce that its analysis showed that it could reroute vessels from Asia to the U.S. East Coast around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America and still save money on the trip by avoiding the Panama Canal tolls, despite the longer route.

The Panama Canal Authority said it will modify the definition of ballast for full container vessels, allowing a ship that carries 30 percent or less of its capacity to be charged the ballast rate of $57.60 per TEU, $14.40 less than the $72 laden (ships with cargo) rate.

It will also reduce the base reservation price depending on the vessel size for all segments that use the reservation system.

For example, it said the base reservation price for a super vessel, with a beam greater than or equal to 100 feet and a length greater than or equal to 900 feet, is reduced by $5,000 per transit.

It is also reducing the fee for late arrivals. Currently, when vessels fail to arrive on schedule, they lose their slot, but have the option to pay an additional charge to keep the reservation and transit that same day. The new temporary measure reduces the charges and provides shipping lines with greater flexibility. The percentage reduction varies depending on the vessel’s arrival time.

The authority said the temporary measures also allow more flexibility for slot substitutions. The canal authority will now allow shipping lines 30 days before the date of a vessel’s transit to request slot substitutions without additional costs.

Previously, shipping lines could make such requests without an additional charge if that request was made at least 60 days prior to the date of transit. The canal authority said this temporary measure grants shipping lines more flexibility for slot substitutions, allowing them to replace one vessel for another with similar dimensions.

Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com .

Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response (EPR)

2009-05-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/guidance/public_health/travel_advice/en/index.html

No Rationale for Travel Restrictions

1 May 2009 -- WHO is not recommending travel restrictions related to the outbreak of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus. Today, international travel moves rapidly, with large numbers of individuals visiting various parts the world. Limiting travel and imposing travel restrictions would have very little effect on stopping the virus from spreading, but would be highly disruptive to the global community.

Influenza A (H1N1) has already been confirmed in many parts of the world. The focus now is on minimizing the impact of the virus through the rapid identification of cases and providing patients with appropriate medical care, rather than on stopping its spread internationally. Furthermore, although identifying the signs and symptoms of influenza in travellers can be an effective monitoring technique, it is not effective in reducing the spread of influenza as the virus can be transmitted from person to person before the onset of symptoms. Scientific research based on mathematical modelling indicates that restricting travel will be of limited or no benefit in stopping the spread of disease. Historical records of previous influenza pandemics, as well as experience with SARS, have validated this point.

Travellers can protect themselves and others by following simple recommendations related to travel aimed at preventing the spread of infection. Individuals who are ill should delay travel plans and returning travellers who fall ill should seek appropriate medical care. These recommendations are prudent measures which can limit the spread of many communicable diseases and not only Influenza A (H1N1).

Influenza A(H1N1) - update 7

1 May 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve rapidly. As of 06:00 GMT, 1 May 2009, 11 countries have officially reported 331 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

The United States Government has reported 109 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death. Mexico has reported 156 confirmed human cases of infection, including nine deaths.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (34), Germany (3), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (3), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (8).

Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.

Swine influenza FAQ

2009-04-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/faq/en/index.html#what

What is swine influenza?

Swine influenza, or “swine flu”, is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease of pigs, caused by one of several swine influenza A viruses. Morbidity tends to be high and mortality low (1-4%).

The virus is spread among pigs by aerosols, direct and indirect contact, and asymptomatic carrier pigs. Outbreaks in pigs occur year round, with an increased incidence in the autumn and winter in temperate zones. Many countries routinely vaccinate swine populations against swine influenza.

Swine influenza viruses are most commonly of the H1N1 subtype, but other subtypes are also circulating in pigs (e.g., H1N2, H3N1, H3N2). Pigs can also be infected with avian influenza viruses and human seasonal influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. The H3N2 swine virus was thought to have been originally introduced into pigs by humans. Sometimes pigs can be infected with more than one virus type at a time, which can allow the genes from these viruses to mix. This can result in an influenza virus containing genes from a number of sources, called a "reassortant" virus. Although swine influenza viruses are normally species specific and only infect pigs, they do sometimes cross the species barrier to cause disease in humans.

What are the implications for human health?

Outbreaks and sporadic human infection with swine influenza have been occasionally reported. Generally clinical symptoms are similar to seasonal influenza but reported clinical presentation ranges broadly from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia resulting in death.

Since typical clinical presentation of swine influenza infection in humans resembles seasonal influenza and other acute upper respiratory tract infections, most of the cases have been detected by chance through seasonal influenza surveillance. Mild or asymptomatic cases may have escaped from recognition; therefore the true extent of this disease among humans is unknown.

Where have human cases occurred?

Since the implementation of IHR(2005)1 in 2007, WHO has been notified of swine influenza cases from the United States and Spain.

How do people become infected?

Humans usually contract swine influenza from infected pigs, however, some cases lack contact history with pigs or environments where pigs have been located. Human-to-human transmission has occurred in some instances but was limited to close contacts and closed groups of people.

Is it safe to eat pork and pork products?

Yes. Swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The swine influenza virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C, corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat.

Which countries have been affected by outbreaks in pigs?

Swine influenza is not notifiable to international animal health authorities (OIE, www.oie.int), therefore its international distribution in animals is not well known. The disease is considered endemic in the United States. Outbreaks in pigs are also known to have occurred in North America, South America, Europe (including the UK, Sweden, and Italy), Africa (Kenya), and in parts of eastern Asia including China and Japan.

What about the pandemic risk?

It is likely that most people, especially those who do not have regular contact with pigs, do not have immunity to swine influenza viruses that can prevent the virus infection. If a swine virus establishes efficient human-to human transmission, it can cause an influenza pandemic. The impact of a pandemic caused by such a virus is difficult to predict: it depends on virulence of the virus, existing immunity among people, cross protection by antibodies acquired from seasonal influenza infection and host factors.

Is there a human vaccine to protect against swine influenza?

There are no vaccines that contain the current swine influenza virus causing illness in humans. It is not known whether current human seasonal influenza vaccines can provide any protection. Influenza viruses change very quickly. It is important to develop a vaccine against the currently circulating virus strain for it to provide maximum protection to the vaccinated people. This is why WHO needs access to as many viruses as possible in order to select the most appropriate candidate vaccine virus.

What medicines are available for treatment?

There are two classes of such medicines, 1) adamantanes (amantadine and remantadine), and 2) inhibitors of influenza neuraminidase (oseltamivir and zanamivir). Most of the previously reported swine influenza cases recovered fully from the disease without requiring medical attention and without antiviral medicines.

Some influenza viruses develop resistance to the antiviral medicines, limiting the effectiveness of treatment.

The viruses obtained from the recent human cases with swine influenza in the United States are sensitive to oselatmivir and zanamivir but resistant to amantadine and remantadine.

Information is insufficient to make recommendations on the use of the antivirals in treatment of swine influenza virus infection.

Clinicians should make decisions based on the clinical and epidemiological assessment and harms and benefits of the treatment of the patient2. For the ongoing outbreak of the swine influenza infection in the United States and Mexico, national and local authorities are recommending use oseltamivir or zanamivir for treatment of the disease based on the virus’s susceptibility profile.

What should I do if I am in regular contact with pigs?

Even though there is no clear indication that the current human cases with swine influenza infection are related to recent or ongoing influenza-like disease events in pigs, it would be advisable to minimize contact with sick pigs and report such animals to relevant animal health authorities.

Most people are infected through prolonged, close contact with infected pigs. Good hygiene practices are essential in all contact with animals and are especially important during slaughter and post-slaughter handling to prevent exposure to disease agents. Sick animals or animals that died from disease should not be undergoing slaughtering procedures. Follow further advice from relevant national authorities.

Swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The swine influenza virus is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C corresponding to the general guidance for the preparation of pork and other meat.

How can I protect myself from getting swine influenza from infected people?

In the past, human infection with swine influenza was generally mild but is known to have caused severe illness such as pneumonia For the current outbreaks in the United States and Mexico however, the clinical pictures have been different. None of the confirmed cases in the United States have had the severe form of the disease and the patients recovered from illness without requiring medical care. In Mexico, some patients reportedly had the severe form of the disease.

To protect yourself, practice general preventive measures for influenza:

Avoid close contact with people who appear unwell and who have fever and cough.

Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly.

Practice good health habits including adequate sleep, eating nutritious food, and keeping physically active.

If there is an ill person at home:

Try to provide the ill person a separate section in the house. If this is not possible, keep the patient at least 1 meter in distance from others.

Cover mouth and nose when caring for the ill person. Masks can be bought commercially or made using the readily available materials as long as they are disposed of or cleaned properly.

Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after each contact with the ill person.

Try to improve the air flow in the area where the ill person stays. Use doors and windows to take advantage of breezes.

Keep the environment clean with readily available household cleaning agents.

If you are living in a country where swine influenza has caused disease in humans, follow additional advice from national and local health authorities.

What should I do if I think I have swine influenza?

If you feel unwell, have high fever, cough and/or sore throat:

Stay at home and keep away from work, school or crowds as much as possible.

Rest and take plenty of fluids.

Cover your mouth and nose with disposable tissues when coughing and sneezing and dispose of the used tissues properly.

Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly, especially after coughing or sneezing.

Inform family and friends about your illness and seek help for household chores that require contact with other people such as shopping.

If you need medical attention:

Contact your doctor or healthcare provider before travelling to see them and report your symptoms.

Explain why you think you have swine influenza (for example, if you have recently travelled to a country where there is a swine influenza outbreak in humans). Follow the advice given to you for care.

If it is not possible to contact your healthcare provider in advance, communicate your suspicion of having swine influenza immediately upon arrival at the healthcare facility.

Take care to cover your nose and mouth during travel.

Understanding Swine Flu’s World Spread: Questions and Answers

2009-04-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

By John Lauerman

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aLdy2aZer5fM&refer=home

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu has sickened at least 257 people in 11 countries, including Mexico, the U.S., New Zealand, Canada and the U.K., according to the World Health Organization.

The organization raised its six-tier pandemic alert to 5 and said the world’s first influenza pandemic since 1968 may soon be declared. Hundreds of more cases are suspected, as health officials around the world check to see whether infections have occurred in their countries and ready measures to prevent its spread.

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about swine flu.

The information is drawn from the data released by the World Health Organization in Geneva and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Q: What is swine flu?

A: Influenza is a virus that infects people, birds, pigs and other animals such as ferrets. Swine flu, or swine influenza, is a form of the virus that normally infects pigs. There are many forms of flu, and the different varieties have the ability to exchange genes with one another. The form of flu that originated in Mexico is a genetic mixture of viruses that have been seen in pigs, birds and people. It’s being called a swine flu because the overall structure of the virus is of the type that affects pigs, said Keiji Fukuda, a WHO official.

Q: How do people catch swine flu?

A: Studies are ongoing about how this particular swine flu is transmitted. Flu is generally transmitted through the respiratory tract. Droplets of infected body fluids may carry flu when people cough or sneeze. Studies indicate that masks called N95 respirators, when properly used, filter germs from the breath and hamper the spread of flu. Neither contact with pigs nor eating pork has been linked to the spread of the flu, Fukuda said.

Q: What are the symptoms of swine flu?

A: About one to four days usually elapse between the time a person is infected and the onset of symptoms. Influenza normally causes symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, headaches and body aches, fever, chills, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. Swine flu causes the same symptoms, and may be difficult to distinguish from other strains of flu and respiratory illnesses. Severe cases of flu that lead to death are normally seen in very young and very old people whose immune systems are too weak to fight off the virus. Adults with severe illness may also have difficulty breathing, dizziness, confusion, or severe vomiting and diarrhea.

Q: Is there a vaccine against the swine flu that’s now spreading?

A: Flu vaccines generally contain a dead or weakened form of a circulating virus. The vaccine prepares the body’s immune system to fend off a true infection. For the vaccine to work, it must match the circulating, “wild-type” virus relatively closely. There is no vaccine currently that exactly matches the swine flu. The seasonal flu vaccine isn’t effective against swine flu, said Richard Besser, acting head of the CDC. Vaccine makers have contacted the World Health Organization about obtaining samples of the virus needed to make a vaccine. Making flu vaccine can take three to six months. No decision has been made to order a vaccine against swine flu, Besser said.

Q: How can I tell if my child is sick?

A: Children who are breathing abnormally fast or slowly may have respiratory illness. Bluish skin indicates a need for quick attention. Children who are abnormally sluggish and sleepy, irritable, or have fever or rash may also need attention.

Q: Have there been outbreaks of swine flu before?

A: Yes. Health officials said in 1976 that an outbreak of swine flu in people might lead to a pandemic. Widespread vaccination was carried out in the U.S. before experts determined that the virus was not dangerous enough to cause a pandemic. Swine flu occasionally infects people in the U.S. without causing large outbreaks. From 2005 through January 2009, there were 12 reported swine flu cases in the U.S. None of them caused deaths.

Q: Why are health officials concerned about the outbreak of swine flu?

A: When flu viruses mix genes with one another, they can take on new forms. New flu viruses are harder for the human immune system to defend against. With little or no opposition from the immune resistance, the virus can grow quickly and invade many tissues and organs. They may also set off a harmful immune overreaction in the body, called a “cytokine storm,” that may be lethal in itself. The swine flu virus from Mexico may have the ability to spread quickly and kill people, possibly causing a worldwide pandemic, according to the WHO. Researchers are conducting studies to determine how easily the virus spreads in people and how dangerous it is.

Q: What’s a flu pandemic?

A: A flu pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus spreads quickly and few people have immunity. While influenza viruses were only discovered about a century ago, researchers believe flu pandemics hit about two or three times each century. Some pandemics kill a few million people globally. The most severe flu pandemic on record was the 1918 Spanish Flu. Researchers estimate it killed about 50 million people around the world.

Q: Are there any similarities between the swine flu and earlier pandemic viruses?

A: Flu viruses are classified by two proteins on their surface, called H for hemagglutinin and N for neuraminidase. The swine flu found in Mexico and the 1918 Spanish Flu viruses are of the H1N1 subtype. Both viruses appear to have originated in animals. Researchers believe the Spanish Flu spread to people from birds. The two viruses are not identical, and there are still many genetic differences between them that researchers are studying.

Q: Do all H1N1 viruses cause pandemics?

A: No. H1N1 descendants of the Spanish Flu virus continue to circulate in people and sometimes cause outbreaks of seasonal flu.

Q: Are there drugs that treat swine flu?

A: Yes. Roche Holding AG’s Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Relenza both react against swine flu. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has released 25 percent of its stockpile of Tamiflu and Relenza, according to Secretary Janet Napolitano. Flu viruses sometimes develop resistance to antiviral drugs. The human form of H1N1 seasonal flu that’s currently circulating is resistant to Roche’s Tamiflu (not Relenza). If the two viruses were to exchange genes, the swine flu might become resistant, too. The drugs should be administered within the first 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, according to the CDC. Tamiflu and Relenza may also help prevent swine flu in people who have been exposed to someone who was sick.

Q: How else can I protect myself from swine flu?

A: Personal hygiene measures, such as avoiding people who are coughing or sneezing and frequent hand-washing, may prevent flu infection. Those who aren’t health professionals should avoid contact with sick people. People who get sick with flu symptoms should stay home. Studies have suggested that closing schools, theaters, and canceling gatherings in the early stages of a pandemic can limit its spread. Such measures would likely take place if health officials determine that the virus is spreading quickly enough and is deadly enough to cause a pandemic.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Lauerman in Boston at jlauerman@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: April 30, 2009 14:42 EDT

Democratic Policing Essential to Protect Individual Liberties

2009-04-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

http://newsblaze.com/story/20090429060645tsop.nb/topstory.html

Washington

Police officials are often the first contact a person has with a country's legal system. The American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) helps train law enforcement officials around the world so that the first citizen-police encounter is a positive one.

ABA ROLI is a nonprofit program that implements legal reform programs in more than 40 countries. It has more than 400 professional staff working in the United States and abroad, including a cadre of short- and long-term expatriate volunteers who, since the program's inception in 2007, have contributed more than $200 million in donated legal assistance.

ABA ROLI "fully recognizes the direct link between democratization efforts and the ability of states to protect [their] citizens and maintain order while protecting individual liberties and civil and political rights," said Mary Greer, senior adviser to ABA ROLI's Criminal Law Reform Program.

"We work with training academies, whether they're prosecutors, police academies, or, to some extent, judicial academies," Greer said. "Often our work with police is in the context of a changing criminal-procedure-code environment," she told America.gov.

Changing a country's criminal procedures to conform to international standards means a shift in roles and responsibilities, Greer explained.

In former Soviet Union countries, she said, police and prosecutors ruled supreme under the old system. Now, judges, not police, issue search warrants and approve arrest warrants.

ABA ROLI's goals when conducting training overseas are to insure that international standards of fairness and transparency are met. "Fair trial standards," Greer said, "start with investigations that are conducted by people with the expertise as well as the knowledge of human rights - whether [those] human rights are victim's rights or the accused or witnesses."

PROMOTING A RULE-OF-LAW CULTURE AMONG POLICE

One of ABA ROLI's most recent programs is a comprehensive review and reform of the Panamanian police curriculum and training methods. Begun in February, the goal of the yearlong effort is to help Panamanian police trainers in promoting a rule-of-law culture among Panamanian police.

Michael McCullough, director of ABA's Latin America and the Caribbean ROLI program, told America.gov that a 2006 survey conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank concluded that 46 percent of Panamanians believed the criminal justice system fails to punish criminals.

"A lot of citizen confidence is going to be based on their perceptions of the police," McCullough said.

"Police in many cases are the first contact that a citizen has with the legal system - and sometimes the only direct contact," he said. "

So to a large extent, the impressions that citizens have of the legal system will result from their impressions of the police. We think it is very important for the police to be highly professional, ethical and competent in the performance of their duties."

Especially important is that the police understand how to conduct effective investigations, he said.

"If [police] don't effectively gather the proper evidence and follow the chain of custody and comply with the constitutional guarantees, the prosecutor's hands will be tied at trial," McCullough said.

The ABA ROLI program in Panama, which is funded in part by the U.S. government, is part of a larger agreement between the governments of Panama and the United States to reform Panama's justice sector, McCullough said.

INTERNATIONAL RAMIFICATIONS

A properly trained police force enhances the international community's efforts to control transnational crime, Greer said.

For example, an ABA ROLI training program for police officers in Ukraine has made extradition requests by the United States proceed more smoothly, she said. Likewise, cases involving the trafficking of women from Moldova to Ukraine were facilitated by ABA ROLI training regarding legal issues between jurisdictions.

"So much more crime is global," Greer said. "Terrorism, money laundering, cybercrime are truly global crimes."

"You really have to work even harder ... at trying to devise a regional strategy within country-specific priorities," she said.

More information about ABA ROLI ( http://www.abanet.org/rol/ ) is available on the ABA Web site.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov/)

Panama to signal Obama's Agenda

2009-04-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

APRIL 26, 2009, 8:53 P.M. ET

Panama to Signal Obama's Agenda
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124079102550957773.html

By GREG HITT

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has signaled in recent days a more positive stance toward free trade than he did on the campaign trail, pleasing business groups but courting a backlash among trade-skeptical Democrats in Congress.

An early test of just how much Mr. Obama will push trade in addition to the other issues on his agenda -- like health care, climate change and financial regulation -- will be whether he prods Congress soon to ratify a free-trade agreement with Panama negotiated under the Bush administration.

The White House's newly confirmed trade representative, Ron Kirk, indicated that was under consideration in a speech last week, saying "we believe there is strong bipartisan support for the pending free-trade agreement with Panama." Mr. Kirk also mentioned possibly moving forward with other stalled Bush-era pacts with Colombia and South Korea.

That came a few days after Obama aides suggested the president wouldn't seek to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement to address concerns about labor and environmental protections.

Mr. Obama had, as a candidate, pledged to renegotiate the deal. And it followed a decision by the Obama administration not to label China a currency manipulator, though Mr. Obama himself had done just that during the campaign. Critics of China say Beijing keeps the value of the yuan artificially low to give their exporters a leg up in the world economy.

After Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats talked tough on trade during the 2008 campaign, business leaders worried about new protectionism out of Washington. Now, some say they are more encouraged.

"If the president could just move the Panama agreement, it would send a signal to the world that we're open for business," Jim Owens, chairman and chief executive of Caterpillar Inc., said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations the same day as Mr. Kirk's speech.

But trade skepticism and populist economic sentiments still run high on Capitol Hill. Those sentiments derailed the trade agenda in the final years of the Bush presidency and helped fuel Democratic gains at the polls in the last two elections.

Rep. Mike Michaud (D., Maine) issued a statement after Mr. Kirk's speech denouncing the talk of acting on Panama as "absolutely outrageous and a serious mistake."

Mr. Michaud, a strong critic of U.S. trade policy, suggested Mr. Obama risks alienating voters who are worried about trade and globalization, and dividing Democrats on Capitol Hill. "You're just courting trouble," he said in an interview.

That came as other leaders in Congress have stepped up their campaign for Mr. Obama to stick more closely to his trade promises.

"I am disappointed that the Treasury Department did not cite China as a currency manipulator," Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown told a Washington audience last week.

He called on Mr. Obama to convene a blue-ribbon commission to "help create a new path on trade." He added, "The basic premise of redirecting U.S. trade policy is that we must see evidence that our trade model is working before we pass new trade agreements -- whether with Panama, Colombia or South Korea," he said.

Already this year, Mr. Obama has had some small tussles with Congress on trade. Lawmakers tucked into the stimulus legislation a "Buy American" provision requiring preferences for domestic suppliers on government contracts. That has stirred tensions with trade partners, prompting the administration to vow to water down the rules.

Congress attached to a separate spending bill a provision that killed a program that allowed Mexican trucks to transport cargo into the U.S. Mexico responded with tariffs on a list of American exports. The White House has said it was working to resolve the dispute.

The next big test for trade is Panama. Mr. Kirk said last week that the deal wasn't ready yet for a congressional vote, saying, "I'm working to resolve some labor and other issues before we ask Congress to consider it."

Deborah Mesloh, spokeswoman for Mr. Kirk, said the administration is ready to work with Congress to address concerns on the trade agenda.

greg.hitt@wsj.com

Dalai Lama discusses global economy at UC Santa Barbara

2009-04-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

'This crisis is good,' Tibetan leader says, because it reminds people that money has limitations.

He also speaks about arcane aspects of Buddhist history and philosophy.

By Louis Sahagun April 25, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dalai25-2009apr25,0,7264017.story

Reporting from Santa Barbara

The Dalai Lama, in a ringing denunciation, declared Friday that the ailing global economy is the result of "too much greed, and lies and hypocrisy.

"These are some of the factors behind the global crisis," he said at a news conference at UC Santa Barbara. "Those people who feel that money is the most important thing in life, when economic crisis hits, learn that it is only one way to be happy. There is also family, friends and peace of mind."

Therefore, this crisis is good," he added with a laugh, "because it reminds people who only want to see money grow and grow that there are limitations."The Dalai Lama's remarks followed the first of two sold-out public lectures in the university events center Friday on "the nature of mind."

That discourse, delivered from an ornate wooden couch with ocher robes draped over his bony shoulders and with his legs folded beneath him, drew an audience of 4,800 people.Tickets, which had sold out within two hours, ranged in price from $20 to $40. Scalpers fetched up to $600 per ticket, university officials said.

In his characteristic self-effacing manner, the 74-year-old leader of Tibet's government-in-exile began by apologizing for a serious cold that had him frequently pausing to clear his throat or blow his nose.

Midway through the talk, he began speaking for up to 15 minutes at a stretch in Tibetan about arcane aspects of Buddhist history and philosophy, leaving his assistant to translate for fans.Advanced students of Buddhist philosophy leaned forward in their seats, hanging on every word.

Many others, however, began fidgeting or heading off to the restrooms. Some people snoozed.Joyce Tapper, 74, of Van Nuys took it all in stride."It's amazing that he pushes ahead despite little things like a cold and big things like the condition of his homeland," she said. "Just being in the room with him lifted me to a higher place, even if I didn't get it.

"Then there was Melanie Strickland, 48, a substitute teacher from the Joshua Tree area. Moments after the Dalai Lama left the stage, she was reciting large portions of the teachings -- nearly verbatim -- over her cellphone to a friend.

"The key is to rise above thoughts of pain and anger," she told her friend, "and focus on the here and now between those thoughts. See?"It was the Dalai Lama's fourth visit to this prosperous seaside community, which prepared for his appearance with four weeks of social gatherings, public talks by local scholars and Buddhist-oriented art exhibits, including an elaborate sand mandala under construction by 10 monks. On Friday night, the California-based Global Institute for Tibetan Medicine hosted a reception in honor of Gyalo Thondup, older brother of the Dalai Lama.

UC Santa Barbara became a leading center of Buddhist and Tibetan studies after the Dalai Lama's first visit there in 1984. He was invited to return this week by Jose Cabezon, the first occupant of the university's XIV Dalai Lama chair in Tibetan studies.

The invitation was made "quite a while ago because the Dalai Lama books his appearances about seven years in advance," Cabezon said.

"Finally, our number came up and he flew here direct from his headquarters in India.""We are institution unusual in its support and admiration for the Dalai Lama," said Eva Haller, a longtime trustee of the UC Santa Barbara Foundation. "He knows that, and feels at home here."

U.S. to push on Doha, Bush trade deals: Kirk

2009-04-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

By Doug PalmerReuters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/23/AR2009042302610.html

Thursday, April 23, 2009; 1:30 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is committed to concluding long-running world trade talks and wants to move forward on trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea negotiated by former President George W. Bush, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Thursday.

"Now is the time to revive global trade, and to lay the groundwork for an even more robust, more open trading system in future decades," Kirk said in what was billed as his first major policy speech since taking office last month.

"To get our economy back on track, we need to increase exports," Kirk said at the Georgetown University law school.

But with many Americans doubtful of the benefits of trade, it was also time to "take a new approach," Kirk said.

That meant rigorous U.S. enforcement of trade agreements to ensure countries honor commitments to open their markets and ensuring U.S. workers who lose their jobs because of trade know the government will "have their backs," he said.

The United States also must help small and medium-sized companies export more, Kirk said, noting that 97 percent of American exporters have fewer than 500 workers.

President Barack Obama tapped into strong anti-trade sentiment during last year's election by criticizing the North American Free Trade Agreement and opposing trade deals the Bush administration negotiated with Colombia and South Korea.

But with U.S. exports plummeting along with the rest of global trade, Obama has joined other world leaders in warning against the danger of protectionism.

LABOR PROTECTIONS

In meetings with leaders of Canada and Mexico, Obama has said he wants to add stronger labor and environmental protections to NAFTA without unraveling the pact.

Kirk said the Obama administration believed there was strong bipartisan support in Congress for a Panama trade deal left over from the Bush administration and was looking for new solutions to concerns that have blocked the pacts with Colombia and South Korea.

Opponents of those deals say pursuing the pacts would cause a split among Democrats that could damage Obama's ability to accomplish other legislative goals.

"This is absolutely outrageous and a serious mistake," said Rep. Mike Michaud, a leader of a group of 54 lawmakers, most of them Democrats, in the House of Representative who have called for major changes in U.S. policy.

The White House, if it submits the agreements to Congress, will likely have to rely heavily on Republican votes to get them approved, especially in the House.

Kirk, who also promised to bring more transparency to U.S. trade policy, did not take questions after the speech. Aides told reporters he was scheduled to meet with Georgetown students and already had a news conference on Monday.

The United States also wants a successful conclusion to the long-running Doha round of world trade talks, "and in coming weeks we will have more to say about how we think Doha can finally move forward," Kirk said.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer; editing by David Storey)

Tax Haven Questions Could Trip Up Panama Trade Pact

2009-04-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

APRIL 22, 2009, 1:15 P.M. ET

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090422-713050.html

By Martin Vaughan Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Questions about Panama's status as a tax haven have raised a new hurdle for U.S. approval of a free trade deal between the U.S. and the Central American nation.

The U.S.-Panama trade pact was signed in June 2007, but the deal has been stalled along with separate bilateral trade pacts with Colombia and South Korea.

The latter two trade deals are ensnared in controversial human rights and market access disputes. But the White House said earlier this year in a "trade policy agenda" document that it hoped to send the Panama deal to Congress for consideration "relatively quickly."

Democratic lawmakers and Obama administration officials now say Panama must take steps to increase transparency and information exchange with U.S. authorities on tax issues, before the free trade agreement can advance.

"I would say with respect to Panama that there are also some important issues that need to be worked through having to do with cooperation in resisting tax evasion," White House National Economic Council Director Larry Summers said at an April 18 press conference at the Summit of the Americas.

The Treasury Dept. launched talks with Panama towards a tax information exchange agreement in 2002, but the talks have made little progress.

U.S. business lobbyists who back the U.S.-Panama trade deal have been pushing for a vote prior to Congress' August recess. But the demands from the Obama administration on tax transparency seem to make that timetable unlikely.

Panama holds presidential and parliamentary elections May 3, and it is doubtful whether the Treasury Dept. would be able to conclude a tax information exchange agreement with the lame-duck administration of outgoing President Martin Torrijos.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on April 2 listed Panama as one of 30 tax haven jurisdictions that have committed to international standards on bank secrecy, but have "not yet substantially implemented" those standards.

Panama is also mentioned in legislation introduced by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., with sanctions for tax haven jurisdictions.

Panamanian officials did not immediately respond to inquiries for this article.

In a March letter to the OECD, Panama said that while it is not a tax haven, it is taking steps to strengthen its "legal and regulatory framework, thus helping our international financial center to not by unduly utilized by citizens of other States to evade or defraud their respective tax authorities."

But the letter from Minister of Commerce and Industry Gisela A. de Porras said Panama will insist on protecting fundamental privacy, and will respond only to "individual requests provided with a specific rationale and justification."

Automatic exchange of information will thus not be considered, the letter said.

It is only in recent days that U.S. politicians have linked progress on tax and bank secrecy issues to approval of the trade deal, however. Opponents of the Panama pact - led by fair-trade activist group Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch - have long sought to bring attention to Panama's history as a tax haven.

Their efforts have been helped by a flurry of media interest in global tax evasion, as U.S. and European authorities have ramped up pressure on such jurisdictions as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Bermuda to relax secrecy laws.

House Ways and Means Committee Democrats have long been pressing Panama to make changes in its labor laws, as a prerequisite for allowing the free trade deal to advance.

Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., raised the tax haven issues in connection with the free trade deal during a March address to a Washington trade group.

By Martin Vaughan, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9244; martin.vaughan@dowjones.com

Rainforest clash in Panama signals larger debate

2009-04-22T08:36:00.001-07:00

The words are memorized, passed down from an aging generation to a new group of tribal youths.

"The song means a lot to me," Mezua told CNN, the fire's dying embers splashing a red glow across his face. "But I don't know what it means."

It's not just the song but their language and culture that Mezua and his tribe fear losing as deforestation from logging and cattle ranching threatens the rainforest that is part of their identity.

But recent trends could usher in a welcome reversal for Mezua and his tribe. Rural workers are migrating toward cities in search of jobs, and forests are re-emerging where now abandoned farms and cattle ranches once flourished, according to a 2009 report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

Such "secondary" forests in the tropics can rapidly grow in areas once cleared for logging and cattle ranching if left alone, said Joseph Wright, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. "After about 20 years (of being left alone) the forest will be about 60 feet tall," he said. Watch Mezua sing a traditional tribal song »

Deforestation and re-growth in Panama may reflect a snapshot of a bigger picture involving rainforests throughout Central America. With more than three-quarters of people across the region now living in urban centers, the United Nations expects rural farming and population growth -- the usual culprits behind deforestation -- to dwindle.

Some call forest re-growth a victory in the climate crisis. Trees consume carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat within the Earth's atmosphere. "Biology is the only way we can remove carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere," Wright said. "There's no way to do it faster than to let tropical forests re-grow on abandoned land."

Others say threats to primary forest, or original jungle, is the real issue and that its loss can cause irreparable damage to the surrounding ecosystem.

"Places in Colombia, places in Central America, places in Mexico, places in many of the Andean countries are the last bunkers, the last bastions of hundreds of unique species in each place," Lider Sucre, director of Panama's Museum of Biodiversity, told CNN.

"If you replant 10 times as much forest but you lose these last large pockets, you lose a huge amount of biodiversity forever and ever."

The value of primary and secondary forests is a debate heating up within the environmental community as new woodlands begin to wrap themselves around barbed-wire fences that still dot cattle-driven landscapes across Panama.

We have to make that distinction, that fundamental difference, between re-growth and the original forest," Sucre said. "Re-growth is only a shadow in terms of the diversity of life within it."

In places like Panama's Kuna Yala, a semi-autonomous tribal region and the country's largest tract of rainforest, new growth can bridge gaps between the remaining pockets of pristine old growth forest.

"Because of its size, because of the health of the entire ecosystem, it has an extraordinary potential to serve as a kind of a Noah's Ark -- a place that can safeguard biodiversity and the full complement of species," Sucre said.

Recently, a scientific expedition unearthed 10 new amphibious species on both sides of Panama's mountainous border with Colombia, according to Conservation International, an environmental advocacy group based in Washington.

At least 25 percent of the area is being deforested, putting the rich biodiversity in jeopardy, the group said. Across the region, the United Nations says tropical rainforest land is still being lost at an alarming pace.

More than 7 million hectares of forests were destroyed globally each year between 2000 and 2005, the U.N. says

Slightly less than one-fifth of the world's carbon dioxide emissions stems from the effects of deforestation in poor countries, the U.N. said -- a figure comparable to the total output of the United States and China.

For indigenous tribes -- who rely on the rainforest for everything from medicine and food to homes and artwork -- the reality behind the figures is staggering. "The rainforest is something we depend on," Kuna tribesman Toniel Edman said, standing beside a thatched hut made from rainforest wood.

"The problem is actually with the farmers and ranchers," Edman said. "They invade our land and deforest it for their own gain." But here, cattle is king. "We don't have another way to support ourselves," rancher Oriel Gonzalez said, overlooking cow pastures where rainforest once dominated.

"We go looking for work elsewhere but there isn't any. We don't know how to do anything else." He added that loans for raising cows are just easier to come by than financing for crops or other livestock. "It's partly tradition. The banker is used to lending money for cattle -- that's what he's always done," said Wright, the Smithsonian scientist.

Wright noted that for lenders, there is inherently less risk with raising cattle. "We have droughts. We have plagues of microbes. Plagues of insects. You can have a 100 percent loss with a row crop," he said. "That just never happens with cattle. You can always get the cattle to market and sell them."

For lawmakers, striking a balance between preservation and the "need for people to grow the land" comes with "difficulties," Panama President Martin Torrijos told CNN.

Torrijos highlighted his country's recent successes in combating deforestation; Panama recorded drops in rainforest loss during the 2000 to 2005 period, the U.N. reported. But he also recognized a brewing conflict between indigenous tribes and the ranchers, farmers and loggers who encroach on tribal land. "Every now and then, issues occur and we deal with it," Torrijos said.

Part of the problem is "unclear ownership of the land," said U.N. Forestry Officer Merilio Morell. "By law, the indigenous own the comarca (tribal district). But exercising ownership is not easy," he said. "They cannot patrol ever single meter of land ... and the borders aren't marked."

Scientists say efforts to promote carbon trading -- a process intended to get companies that exceed their allowed CO2 emissions to buy credits from groups that pollute less -- could provide the mechanism needed to slow deforestation.

Earlier this month, delegates from donor and developing countries around the world met outside Panama City to address carbon trading amid the fallout from a global recession. Environmental consequences from the economic crunch are still uncertain.

But U.N. projections show a growing global demand for rainforest products like fuel and timber.

That demand could thwart the resurgence of the rainforest.

Rainforest clash in Panama signals larger debate

2009-04-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/04/21/panama.deforestation/

KUNA YALA, Panama (CNN) -- Hunched over a campfire in eastern Panama, Embera tribesman Raul Mezua chanted a song his grandfather taught him when he was a boy.
The words are memorized, passed down from an aging generation to a new group of tribal youths.
"The song means a lot to me," Mezua told CNN, the fire's dying embers splashing a red glow across his face. "But I don't know what it means."
It's not just the song but their language and culture that Mezua and his tribe fear losing as deforestation from logging and cattle ranching threatens the rainforest that is part of their identity.
But recent trends could usher in a welcome reversal for Mezua and his tribe. Rural workers are migrating toward cities in search of jobs, and forests are re-emerging where now abandoned farms and cattle ranches once flourished, according to a 2009 report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
Such "secondary" forests in the tropics can rapidly grow in areas once cleared for logging and cattle ranching if left alone, said Joseph Wright, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. "After about 20 years (of being left alone) the forest will be about 60 feet tall," he said. Watch Mezua sing a traditional tribal song »
Deforestation and re-growth in Panama may reflect a snapshot of a bigger picture involving rainforests throughout Central America. With more than three-quarters of people across the region now living in urban centers, the United Nations expects rural farming and population growth -- the usual culprits behind deforestation -- to dwindle.

White House Signals Movement On Pending Trade Agreements, by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

2009-04-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last updated 8 hours ago Tuesday, April 21, 2009

www. tax-news.com

The Obama administration has indicated that it wants to progress long-stalled free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama.

Following meetings with Latin American government leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago last weekend, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk revealed that the US government is keen to begin negotiations with key lawmakers in a bid to secure Congressional approval for the trade agreements.

Both agreements were signed during the last term of the George W. Bush administration, but Congress needs to pass the relevant enabling law to allow the texts to be fully ratified.

However, senior House and Senate Democrats, who want stronger labor rights written into the agreements, have been able to block their progress. But with the administration and Congress now singing from the same hymn sheet, Kirk is optimistic that the agreements can be ratified sooner rather than later.

This will depend, of course, on Colombia and Panama, which have been criticised for stifling trade union activism, also agreeing to any changes to the agreements, but, after his return from the Caribbean, Kirk told reporters that both his meeting with Colombian representatives and the summit in general had been "very productive" for the US. He went on to add that the administration would consult with Congress "early and often" on the agreements.

The US National Foreign Trade Council, which represents a broad base of American multinationals, welcomed the administration's announcement, describing Columbia as a "critically important" economic partner for the US.

"We applaud the administration for sending a positive signal that a dialogue between the United States and Colombia is already underway," said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. "Colombia has long been an important friend to and ally of the United States. With both countries working together toward a resolution of remaining concerns that stand in the way of approval of the FTA, we believe that progress can be made toward the ratification of the agreement."

"Colombia has already proven its commitment to and diligence in working to prevent and stop crimes against trade unionists and all other members of Colombian society," added NFTC Vice President for Regional Trade Initiatives Chuck Dittrich.

"The Colombian Government has worked tirelessly to reduce the overall level of violence in the country, and has made significant strides in strengthening democratic institutions to restore and maintain the rule of law in a country once described as a failed state."

Under the US/Colombia trade agreement, first signed in November 2006, over 80% of US exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia would become duty-free immediately, with remaining tariffs phased out over 10 years.

Key US exports would gain immediate duty-free access to Colombia. Colombia has also agreed to allow trade in remanufactured goods, and will join the WTO Information Technology Agreement.

The US/Panama agreement, signed in December 2006, will eliminate nearly 90% of Panama’s tariffs on industrial goods immediately, with remaining tariffs phased out over 10 years.

On April 20, Senators Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley, Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the Senate Finance Committee, urged President Obama to resolve outstanding issues blocking the path towards Congressional approval of the other currently-stalled free trade agreement, that with South Korea.

"We have long supported a bilateral trade agreement with Korea, and we strongly believe an agreement would provide tremendous benefits to American workers, farmers, and ranchers.

Korea is already our seventh largest trading partner, our fifth largest agriculture export market, and our eighth largest market for goods exports," the Senators wrote in a letter to the President.
However, they warned that there is "further work to be done" if Congress is to support the agreement.

"In particular, Korea has yet to ensure US beef exporters full access to its market in accordance with international standards. Korea’s long history of non-tariff barriers to its autos sector also raises serious concerns with some regarding the agreement," the Senators wrote.

"Postponing addressing such issues will not make them easier to resolve," they added.

Free Trade Returns to the Table

2009-04-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

By Joseph J. Schatz, CQ Staff

The Obama administration and trade advocates in Congress are trying to put a series of long-delayed trade pacts back on the front burner, despite widespread skepticism on Capitol Hill about the benefits of expanded international commerce.

On the heels of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Monday that a delegation from Panama will visit Washington this week to try to resolve disputes over the U.S.-Panama trade deal. Kirk added that President Obama hopes to clear remaining obstacles to a separate pact with Colombia.

Ultimately, Obama — who met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe during the summit — believes that “a resolution of the Colombia trade agreement would be a good thing for both economies,” Kirk said.

Meanwhile, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee — Max Baucus , D-Mont., and Charles E. Grassley , R-Iowa — wrote Obama on Monday asking him to “begin the hard work of winning broad approval” of a trade pact with South Korea, which is stalled due to resistance from U.S. automakers and concerns over restrictions on the Asian nation’s beef imports.

All three trade deals were negotiated by George W. Bush ’s administration but have faced opposition in the Democratic-controlled House and Senate over the past two years. During his Senate confirmation process this year, Kirk told senators wary of mounting job losses — and public opinion polls showing declining support for free trade — that his office would undertake a comprehensive review of each trade deal.

At the same time, the United States has faced pressure from abroad not to appear overly protectionist in the midst of a global economic downturn, a posture many economists fear could slow a recovery.

But hammering out adjustments or side agreements that would win majority support in the House for any of the deals would be difficult. Labor unions, environmental groups and consumer advocates oppose all three agreements for varying reasons, including the effect of trade on American workers. And perhaps even more significantly, it’s unclear what it would take to satisfy Democratic leaders in Congress.

Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch program, which is critical of recent trade agreements, argued that Kirk was trying to “create a sense of momentum on something that is highly contested and not decided . . . and has a huge political liability domestically.”

Trade critics contend that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) resulted in U.S. job losses and complain that the three pending pacts were written in the NAFTA mold. Kirk, however, said concerns about NAFTA “can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement.” Some labor groups have called for a renegotiation of the pact, a move Obama also suggested during his presidential campaign.

Most Likely to Succeed?

The Panama deal has the fewest political problems of the three, in part due to its small size in terms of overall trade flows. But Sander M. Levin , D-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, said in March that Panama has not yet met sufficient labor standards. He also raised concerns about the country’s reputation for banking secrecy and as a tax haven.

Kirk said he “will be working with the Panamanians to identify and resolve all of those issues.”

While declining to give a timeline, he said Panama’s own political situation may yield a “discrete” window to push the trade deal through — an apparent reference to the nation’s coming May presidential elections.

Concerns about violence against labor unions in Colombia have stymied movement on that deal, despite support from Democrats such as House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland.

In a conference call with reporters Monday, Kirk said that while progress has been made toward addressing those concerns, there are “a number of issues that need to be resolved.”

But the fact that the Obama administration is talking about moving forward on the Colombia deal was cause for optimism among trade advocates eager for any sign of progress on their agenda.

“We applaud the administration for sending a positive signal that a dialogue between the United States and Colombia is already underway,” Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, said in a statement. “With both countries working together toward a resolution of remaining concerns that stand in the way of approval of the FTA, we believe that progress can be made toward the ratification of the agreement.”

On the U.S.-South Korea deal, Grassley and Baucus cast their comments in the context of North Korea’s widely condemned missile launch on April 5, adding that the trade deal would “anchor our economic presence in Asia.”

Baucus and Grassley acknowledged disputes over the entry of U.S. beef into South Korea — a key issue for the Montana chairman — and the fact that the trade deal would give South Korean auto companies wide access to the U.S. market despite ongoing concerns that the Asian country restricts imports of American cars.

Nonetheless, the two senators pressed Obama to keep negotiations moving.

“The issues are complex, and they may not be easy to resolve,” Baucus and Grassley said. “Yet their very complexity, as well as their potential rewards, demands we begin our work without delay and persist as long as necessary.”

In a conference call with reporters Monday, Kirk said that while progress has been made toward addressing those concerns, there are “a number of issues that need to be resolved.”

But the fact that the Obama administration is talking about moving forward on the Colombia deal was cause for optimism among trade advocates eager for any sign of progress on their agenda.

Nonetheless, the two senators pressed Obama to keep negotiations moving.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk reports progress on deals with Panama, Colombia

2009-04-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

03:00 PM CDT on Monday, April 20, 2009

By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
tgillman@dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics

/national/stories/042109dnnatkirk.f418b574.html

WASHINGTON – U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk reported progress today on pending trade deals with Panama and Colombia.

The former Dallas mayor accompanied President Barack Obama to the Summit of the Americas this weekend in Trinidad and Tobago, where he met privately with Panama's president, Martin Torrijos, and Colombia's president, Álvaro Uribe, to discuss separate free-trade deals long stalled in Congress.

Both countries are eager to finalize the deals, and Kirk said he's working "in good faith" to do so.
"It was a very productive summit for the U.S., and and it was something that I personally enjoyed," Kirk told reporters today in a conference call before attending the first meeting of the Obama Cabinet.

On Panama, Kirk said he's focused mainly on beefing up labor rules, and to a lesser degree addressing concerns in Congress about Panama's tax laws. Panama holds a presidential election next month, and Kirk said that may provide a "window to move more forcefully."

As for Colombia, Kirk noted that Uribe puts a high priority on the deal. And, although some Republicans fear the Obama team isn't as eager to finalize the deal, Kirk indicated the administration is interested in finalizing the deal, too. Democrats and U.S. unions cite concerns about violence targeting labor activists in Colombia.

"It was a very, very good, productive meeting," Kirk said, "My own personal thought as a mayor and as a lawyer is that when you've got two willing partners, that's a pretty good recipe for getting a deal done."

Kirk was careful in describing discussions pertaining to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

During the campaign last year, Obama told Midwest voters he would renegotiate the deal that is widely blamed for job losses. As president, Obama has softened that stance, which angered Mexico and Canada, though he continues to call for new labor and environmental safeguards.

Kirk said all three NAFTA partners are seeking "opportunities to strengthen" the deal, but Obama's goals "can be addressed without having to reopen the agreement."

"At an appropriate time I will be meeting with our colleagues to try to put a little form to that," he said.

At the summit, Obama's interactions with two leaders who are most antagonistic toward the United States – Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and Bolivian leader Evo Morales – were closely watched.

Kirk said he personally had only passing contact with those leaders, devoting much of his time getting to know trade ministers from Latin America with whom he'll work in coming years.

"I'd like to think I'm a reasonably pleasant fellow," Kirk joked, though "it was a good substantive dialogue as well."

Obama Vows to Listen to US Neighbors

2009-04-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama speaks with Chile's President Michelle Bachelet during UNASUR countries meeting at Summit of the Americas, 18 Apr 2009

By VOA News

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-04-18-voa17.cfm

18 April 2009

President Barack Obama is vowing to listen and learn during a Summit of the Americas, where he hopes to forge new partnerships among Western Hemisphere nations.Mr. Obama made the comments Saturday, the second day of the three-day summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

Just before a separate meeting with South American leaders, Mr. Obama told reporters he looked forward to productive meetings to determine how the region can work together more effectively.Before cameras were ushered out of the room, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an old U.S. adversary, walked over to President Obama, handed him a book and shook his hand.

Reporters in the room say the book was entitled "The Open Veins of Latin America," and is about Latin America's exploitation by foreign powers.On Friday, Mr. Chavez and Mr. Obama shook hands and Mr. Chavez is reported to have told the U.S. president "I want to be your friend.

"President Obama on Friday called for a new beginning in relations between the United States and Cuba - a country not represented at the summit. Cuban President Raul Castro has said Havana is prepared to discuss any issue with Washington.

The United States has lifted restrictions on travel and money transfers by Cuban-Americans to the island, but not the trade embargo. The head of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, says he will ask his group to re-admit Cuba at the next OAS General Assembly meeting this June in Honduras.

Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 after the organization said Cuba's Communist government was incompatible with the OAS charter.

Besides Cuba, Mr. Obama announced a U.S. initiative to boost lending and spur economic growth and recovery in the Americas. He also proposed a hemispheric partnership to tackle energy and climate challenges.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.

Canadian Prime Minister Warns Protectionism Greatest Threat to Global Economy

2009-04-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 18, 2009

By Major Garrett

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — Protectionism is the biggest threat to the global economy, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told FOX News on Friday, adding that the fifth Summit of the Americas should focus on free trade, not a potential thaw in relations between the United States and the communist island nation of Cuba.

Canada is "obviously worried about" moves to erect trade barriers worldwide, Harper told FOX News.

"The biggest threat to the economy right now is an increase in protectionism. Governments are doing all kinds of things to mitigate the effects," he said. Increased protectionism would mean "recession or worse for a very long time."

Canada, the top U.S. trading partner, recently implemented free trade pacts with Costa Rica and Chile and Harper-negotiated deals with Colombia and Peru are now before Parliament. In contrary moves, 17 of the G-20 nations have enacted dozens of protectionist measures since November.

The U.S. is trying to tamp down a trade war with Mexico, its third largest trading partner, sparked by a congressionally mandated ban on Mexican trucks moving goods into the the country. Mexico has slapped $2.4 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods in retaliation. The two nations could not end the impasse during President Obama's 20-hour summit in Mexico with President Felipe Calderon.

We think it is very important, very important for the health of the hemisphere that we continue to bolster moves towards liberalized market economies and we need trade to do that," Harper told FOX News in an exclusive interview hours before the Summit of the Americas began Friday.

"Obviously we're worried about regimes that preach against trade, that preach protectionism. We're worried about the growth of that in the hemisphere. And it is important that countries and the United States, that we get out there and support governments — some of the ones I've mentioned — that are prepared to work with us on a liberalized trade agenda."

Harper demurred when asked if the U.S. should use the summit as a platform to defend free trade and announce additional moves to approve a pending free trade deal with Colombia or a possible breakthrough in trade talks with Panama.

"I'm obviously not here to tell the Obama administration how to run the policy of the United States," Harper said, before launching into a stout defense of Colombia and its democratic progress.

"Colombia is a country that's made a great deal of progress on the democratic front, on the human rights front and on the economic front. And Colombia is a real friend to us in this hemisphere, and I think it's really essential that we support our friends that push forward economic relations with a friendly country in this neighborhood. I think if you don't support your friends you're going to find you don't have many friends."

The U.S. trade pact with Colombia was originally negotiated in 2006 and was re-negotiated in 2007 to address Democratic concerns in Congress about worker rights. Still, the trade pact languishes and there's been no signal from the Obama White House that it's a legislative or economic priority.

Dan Restrepo, a senior Obama adviser on Western Hemisphere affairs, said free trade with Panama and Columbia is "part of the matrix" of regional economic policies the president will outline here. He hinted at a deal with Panama may be in the offing, but the stalemate on Colombia continues.

"On Panama, we're engaged with the Panamanian government and working through some issues that remain and hope to make some progress quite soon," Restrepo told FOX News. "On Columbia, there are an outstanding set of issues. We're finding ways to engage with Colombia to work on those issues."

As for improved relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Harper said Obama had taken important steps to lift restrictions on family travel and remittances to the island and it was time for the Castro regime, led by Fidel Castro's brother, Raoul, to reciprocate. Harper said he knows leftist governments at the summit — namely Venezuela and Nicaragua — will try to push Cuba onto the summit agenda, but such moves ought to be resisted.

"I think it's important to hemispheric relations generally, but we certainly hope it doesn't dominate the summit," Harper said. "There are much more important issues to discuss than Cuban-American relations."

IDB Lends $500M To Support Panama's Banking Industry

2009-04-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090416-713794.html

The Inter-American Development Bank, or IDB, Thursday said it approved a $500 million loan to strengthen the liquidity of Panama's banking system.

The loan will be channeled through Banco Nacional de Panama, a state-owned institution that also acts as a commercial and development bank, the Washington-based multilateral lender said in a press release.

"The funds are expected to partially offset a shortfall in dollar-denominated lending to the productive sector triggered by the current global financial crisis," the IDB said.

Banco Nacional de Panama will act as an intermediary to provide working capital and foreign-trade financing to the industrial sector, the IDB added.

The loan, which expires in five years and has a three-year grace period, will pay a spread of 4 percentage points over the 6-month London interbank offered rate.

The loan is part of a $6 billion program recently created by the IDB to help governments respond to the needs of commercial banks that may face difficulties in accessing foreign and inter-bank credit lines due to the global credit crunch.

The IDB noted that Panama has a solid economy that grew at an average 8.8% between 2004 and 2008, far outpacing the 5.5% regional average.

By Diana Delgado, Dow Jones Newswires; 571-6107044 ext 11320; diana.delgado@dowjones.com

2009 Quality of Life Index

2009-04-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.internationalliving.com/Internal-Components/Further-Resources/qofl2009

By the staff of International Living

For the fourth year running, France comes first in our annual Quality of Life Index.

In your IL magazine every month, we consider the countries around the world where you could live cheaper, pay less tax, enjoy better weather, take advantage of opportunities in emerging markets…places where you could start a new life, start a business, retire…

Then, once a year, every January, we take a different perspective. We consider not only those places that offer particular and timely opportunities for the would-be expatriate…but nearly every nation on earth. This year, our survey looks at 194 countries.

To produce this annual Index we consider, for each of these countries, nine categories: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk, and Climate. This involves a lot of number crunching from “official” sources, including government websites, the World Health Organization, and The Economist, to name but a few.

Once the data is collected, we also take into account what our editors from all over the world have to say about our findings. These correspondents and colleagues are working and living in these countries themselves and give us a more realistic view of our official findings.

This year, as with the past three years, all our number-crunching, rating, and ranking landed France at the top of our Index. France scores high marks across the board…from its health care (84 points) to its infrastructure (90 points) to its safety rating (100 points). But the main appeal of living in France is arguably its lifestyle (its scores 85 points in our Culture and Leisure category).

France’s sensual allure leaves nobody untouched. Spend even a few months here and you will never again regard life in quite the same way.

As our European editor, Steenie Harvey said of her first visit to this country: “It was love at first sight. I can’t get enough of its culture, fashion, stunning architecture, and intoxicating history. As for the food and wine—well, even thinking about it makes me salivate.”

The French believe that every day is a pleasure to be slowly savored—and lingering at the dinner table for three hours in conversation isn’t considered abnormal. Family, friends, and good food are all vitally important to the French—and so is having enough time to appreciate them all.
The unsurpassed quality of life the French enjoy doesn’t have to cost astronomical amounts. Even in Paris, you can enjoy tasty two-course lunches for around $10—if you know where to go.

Tourists rarely investigate supermarkets. So here are some prices from a common French supermarket—taken in September, 2008.

· A half pound of Camembert cheese: $2.45

· A half pound of garlic sausage: $1.60

· Around a quarter pound of paté de campagne: $0.87

· 12 croissants: $2.97

· Bottle of Grenache Gris rosé wine: $4.12

· Hubert de Claminger Champagne brut: $16.98

In this current economic climate, you’re probably worried about how far your dollars will stretch if you buy property here. You may be surprised to learn that there is plenty of French property that doesn’t come with a ridiculous price tag.

Whether you dream of a city pied-à-terre...or a rambling farmhouse among the sunflowers...or a village house wrapped in wisteria-hung memories of long ago, France is more than affordable. In fact, Americans are at an advantage with a favorable exchange rate. Today, a euro is worth $1.31. Six months ago, a 100,000-euro house for sale in France would have cost you $159,000.

Today, the same house would cost you $132,000. That’s a 17% drop in six months—which means now is a good time to buy.

There are many parts of the country where habitable homes in storybook settings cost less than $100,000. We recently found farmhouses in a famous French wine-growing region selling for just $53,000. We also came across a lovely town an hour from Paris—where a two-bedroom apartment costs just $145,000.

Today, France is a buyer’s market. Owners are often willing to negotiate. In some cases, they’re dropping prices before it even gets to negotiation stage.

It’s true, some second-home owners are over-stretched. But unlike the property markets in the U.S., it’s unlikely you’ll ever witness the same property crash in France. Unlike in the U.S.,

France has never experienced a housing bubble—the property prices increased gradually, over many decades.

Even so, this is a good time to position yourself to take advantage of the situation. It’s certainly not a fire sale, but here are some recent price cuts:

In the Poitou-Charentes region, a four-bedroom stone farmhouse with outbuildings and a large garden. Price reduced from $201,000 to $186,000.

In the Dordogne (long one of rural France’s most expensive pockets), an immaculate two-bedroom stone house with lots of character and a nice garden. Price slashed from $304,000 to $230,000.

A renovated gem of a stone cottage in the heart of a Brittany village popular with tourist vacationers—reduced from $131,500 to $117,000.

But overall, the keyword is stability. France doesn’t experience unrealistic booms followed by an all-too-realistic bust. On the whole, it’s a mature market, not some highly-speculative “hot new destination” for gamblers.

Take Paris. Property prices for the city as a whole rose a healthy 8.7% in 2007, attracting as many investors as romantic dreamers. As a long-term investment, Paris property is low risk and has always appreciated steadily.

The fact is, nobody does quality of life quite like the French. And then there’s Paris—the most bewitching and beautiful city on earth. Stack it all up, and if quality of life is important to you, you’ll understand why we think France is the world’s best place to live.

Switzerland takes silver

Switzerland always scores high in our Index, and for the second year running this country comes in second place. Boasting a stable economy (it scores top marks in this category) and infrastructure that is renowned for its reliability and efficiency, Switzerland is also a beautiful country.

Who isn’t charmed by the thought of a cozy alpine chalet or an elegant apartment overlooking a mirror-calm lake? In fact, Mercer’s 2008 “Quality of Living” survey names Zurich as the world’s best city with Geneva coming in third position (www.mercer.com). Generally, the standard of living in this country is high, the crime rates are low, and the currency is one of the world’s strongest.

As always, the north European counties feature prominently in our top 10: Luxembourg comes in fourth place, Belgium sixth, Germany eighth, and Denmark 10th.

These countries score high marks in all categories and all boast excellent health care and infrastructure, little poverty, strong economies, and high levels of freedom.

The good life Down Under

Coming in fifth position this year is Australia. With its year-round sunshine and great big outdoors, Australia offers an active lifestyle. Plus, as an American, you still get value for your greenback. As we go to press, $1 buys you $1.52 Australian dollars. The cost of living is relatively low (Australia scores 57 points out of 100 in our Index), and the country has great infrastructure and health care…and it’s safe.

Another antipode outpost, and coming ninth in our Index this year, is New Zealand.

New Zealand is a stunning country and a great place to live, but it has its drawbacks—it’s a 12-hour flight from the States and, unless you are young and qualified in certain trades, there are restrictions on foreign residency. For more information on the rules for establishing residency in New Zealand, contact Malcolm Pacific, website: www.malcolmpacific.com

Countries on our radar in 2009

Italy (7th): Last year, our roving Europe editor, Steenie Harvey found a 752-square-foot house in a hill town in southern Italy that was ready to move into for $51,650. “This wasn’t a one-off,” Steenie says. “Properties to restore here started at just $15,000.” Steenie regularly scouts this country for property bargains. Watch out for more of her coverage this year.

Brazil (42nd): Our real estate expert Ronan McMahon and our Latin America editor Lee Harrison have traveled to Brazil on a number of occasions in the past year to bring you coverage of the amazing property deals you can find here. Just last month (see your December issue), Lee found beachfront properties in Brazil’s eastern point for just $32,500. Here you can read about the property bargains he found in the colonial town of Sao Luiz and the bustling city of Fortaleza.

Costa Rica (44th): With road improvements on the Costanera Highway underway and scheduled for completion in two to three years, we believe that property development in southern Costa Rica is on the move and now is a good time to buy here. Read more on this area in these pages in 2009.

Ecuador (49th): One of the cheapest places in the world to live and with one of the best climates, Ecuador has been on our radar for many years…and will be for many more to come. Just two months ago (see your November issue) we profiled a couple who live in the perfect retirement spot two hours north of Quito for less than $600 a month, including rent.

This month we profile Gary and Merri Scott who live in the same beautiful Andean village—Cotacachi. In your February issue, Lee Harrison tells you about some of the best property deals in Coastal Ecuador.

Of course, we can’t ignore the fall of the U.S. economy in 2008 (in the economy category of our Index the U.S. fell from 89 points last year to 57 this year). We asked our investment experts to give us their analyses on the current economic crisis.

www.qualityoflife2009.com.

US-Korea Free Trade Deal Sparks Controversy

2009-04-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

By Sean Burton

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/8380/

4-11-09, 11:31 am

In April 2007, South Korea and the US reached a controversial free trade arrangement after fourteen months of negotiations. Unions and other organizations representing South Korean workers and farmers, supported by the local social democrats, consider the deal a threat to South Korean jobs, and their industries as a whole. Similar hostility was expressed last year in the massive dispute over US beef imports, directly related to the South Korean government's desire to improve its trade standing with the US.

This particular agreement, the KORUS FTA, would be the first between the US and a major East Asian economy, and the largest overall since NAFTA was signed in 1992. This is by far South Korea's largest free trade deal. All that remains is for both countries to ratify the agreement.

South Korea's government has moved significantly to the right since April 2007, and is keen to implement KORUS FTA. But the parliament has had to postpone the ratification, fearing more large-scale anti‑government protests. Meanwhile, disputes in the US Congress initially delayed the ratification. With the onset of the global economic crisis and the election of Barack Obama, further delays were inevitable. Still, a report to Congress early in March stated that the government would no longer delay the ratification of FTAs with Korea, Panama, and Colombia.

But the future of the agreement is uncertain. Ron Kirk, the U.S. trade representative‑designate, told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee that the present agreement with Seoul "simply isn't fair, and if we don't get that right we'll be prepared to step away from that." The Obama administration has already begun taking steps, however limited, to "protect American jobs."

This FTA is likely perceived as a potential threat to those policies. Even Obama himself has said the deal is flawed. Naturally, Kirk's statements have worried the leaders of South Korea.

The first reaction from the presidential office here was that Kirk simply couldn't represent the official position of the U.S. government. The phrasing of that announcement indicates a great deal of hurt, as though saying, "We have been great friends for so long! How could you do this to us!?" Supporters of the FTA claim that the deal shouldn't be abandoned "just because a new administration has stepped in". That is a weak argument. What is the point of a new administration if it does not reevaluate widely despised policies of the preceding one?

The biggest concern seems to be the auto industry. Instead of talking about defending American jobs in hard times, KORUS FTA supporters talk only about how U.S. auto producers are "losing their competitive edge" against "better" Korean manufacturers. In other words, jobs do not matter, only profitability. If the companies aren't doing well, they say close up shop. A Chosun Ilbo newspaper editorial also argued that a renegotiation could spark more large protests akin to the beef import demonstrations last year. And so it should! The "delicate" balance achieved in trade negotiations does not change the fact that it's still a raw deal for South Koreans.

The Korea Herald reported recently that Kirk offered more "positive" statements regarding the FTA. South Korean analysts claim that his earlier comments were a mere "formality" to show his loyalty to Obama. The FTA, they say, is in principle a good thing for the economy, but with a few "problems" to be worked out in dialogue. But where are the voices of the workers and farmers, the ones who will feel the impact of the deal? It is one thing for a newspaper or a member of parliament to say that certain groups in society strongly oppose the deal, but another to actually hear from these people.

Acting in the interests of big money, the South Korean government does not care that public opinion is largely against them, even if half a million people take to the streets in protest; that's what the police force is for.

Obama Calls on Nations to Unite to Tackle Global Challenges

2009-04-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

By Kim Chipman

April 11 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama urged global cooperation to combat threats including the economic crisis and terrorism, saying U.S. leadership alone can’t solve worldwide dilemmas.

“These are challenges that no single nation, no matter how powerful, can confront alone,” Obama said today in his weekly address on the radio and Internet. “The U.S. must lead the way, but our best chance to solve these unprecedented problems comes from acting in concert with other nations.”

Obama, speaking after an eight-day trip to Europe, Turkey and Iraq, said progress made at last week’s Group of 20 summit in London and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in France is an example of how countries can work together. He said it’s crucial for nations to move beyond old conflicts and unite to face common challenges.

“Make no mistake: We live in a dangerous world, and we must be strong and vigilant in the face of these threats,” Obama said. “Let us not allow whatever differences we have with other nations to stop us from coming together around those solutions that are essential to our survival and success.”

Obama praised the G-20 nations, the world’s largest economies, for taking joint steps to “stimulate” growth and protect against future financial crises from happening again. He also lauded NATO allies’ support for the U.S. plan to root out terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Nuclear Weapons

“It is only by working together that we will finally defeat 21st century security threats like al Qaeda,” he said.

Obama, 47, drew attention to his call last week to work with Russia to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. He also reminded listeners about his April 6 comments in Turkey to rise above “the barriers of race, region and religion”

The Democratic president’s comments come amid the Jewish holiday of Passover and one day before the Christian observance of Easter.

“It seems fitting that we mark them both during the same week,” Obama said. “They are both moments of reflection and renewal. They are both occasions to think more deeply about the obligations we have to ourselves and the obligations we have to one another, no matter who we are, where we come from, or what faith we practice.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, in today’s weekly Republican address, criticized the Democrat-controlled Congress’s budget plan, arguing that it would create “mountains of new debt” and doesn’t provide adequate tax relief for middle-class workers and small businesses.

Republican Response

“The federal government should keep a lid on taxes, control government spending and borrow less,” Pawlenty, 48, said. “‘I urge President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress to let hardworking American families keep more of what they earn by cutting taxes and reining in spending. It’s just common sense.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week approved drafts of Obama’s 2010 budget that largely adhere to the administration’s priorities.

Obama has proposed a $3.6 trillion budget blueprint for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 that calls for revamping the country’s health-care system, education policies and energy economy.

The president has said his plan would bring tax relief for most working Americans and reduce the deficit while also making the long-term investments critical to the country’s future prosperity.

The House approved a $3.55 trillion plan on April 2. The vote was 233-196 with every Republican who voted opposing the plan. The Senate passed its draft, 55-43, with no Republicans voting in favor and two Democrats, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Evan Bayh of Indiana, in opposition.

Lawmakers will try to work out their differences later this month after returning from a two-week break that began April 6.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: April 11, 2009 06:00 EDT

Panama, Belgium signed investment protection agreement

2009-04-10T14:09:00.001-07:00

www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-27 09:51:59

PANAMA CITY, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and Belgium Prince Philippe met here on Thursday to negotiate an agreement on investment protection.

The agreement was signed on Thursday by Panamanian temporary Foreign Minister Ricardo Duran and Belgian Business Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

Van Quickenborne hailed the importance of commercial protection approaches between the two countries as the commercial cooperation and the European investors' interest in the Panama Canal deepened.

The agreement would guarantee the juridical security of investment made in both countries, said Severo Sousa, Panamanian Vice Minister of Foreign Trade.

It would also spur those who wanted to invest in the two countries, said him.

Remarks With Panamanian Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro Before Their Meeting

2009-04-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/04/121501.htm

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 8, 2009

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, good afternoon. Today, I’m very privileged to be meeting with First Vice President of Panama Sam Lewis, and I want to express how pleased we are to have you here and have this opportunity to discuss a range of important issues that not only matter to our two countries, but to the broader region.

FOREIGN MINISTER NAVARRO: Thank you very much. I want to thank the Secretary of State, Secretary Clinton, for this opportunity. As you’ve mentioned, we’ll discuss both bilateral and hemispheric issues, especially in light of the upcoming Summit of the Americas. Panama and the United States have enjoyed a very special relationship, historically, which has helped us tackle very – many issues in the past. And we are sure that that is what will continue to happen.

Thank you very much.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you so much.

FOREIGN MINISTER NAVARRO: Thank you.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, why is now the time to invite Iran to engage in direct relations?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, the – you’re referring to the P-5+1 meeting. And as we speak, Under Secretary Bill Burns is now participating in the P-5+1 as a full participant, not just as an observer. And obviously, we believe that, you know, pursuing very careful engagement on a range of issues that affect our interests and the interests of the world with Iran makes sense, and there’s nothing more important than trying to convince Iran to cease its efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Brodosplit delivers new tanker to Cypriot client

2009-04-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.croatiantimes.com/index.php?id=3392

Split's Brodosplit Shipyard delivered a new tanker, named the Arctic Flounder, to Cypriot client Salute Shipping Company Limited yesterday (Thurs).

The new Panamax-type tanker is 228.5 metres long and 32.24 metres wide, has a capacity of 74,925 tonnes and will have a maximum speed of 16 knots.

The new P-MAX-type tanker will transport of oil and oil products.

It is about the largest tanker that can pass through the Panama Canal with a full load of cargo.The tanker, which complies with Panama Canal Authority requirements, is the third of four of that type built by Brodosplit for its client in Cyprus.

Tax aid proposed to boost La. ports

2009-04-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

By ALLEN M. JOHNSON JR.
Advocate New Orleans bureau
Published: Apr 8, 2009 - Page: 1D

NEW ORLEANS — A $10 per ton tax credit for shipping Louisiana products would create 13,000 new jobs and millions of dollars in new tax revenue, the city’s top port official told a hearing Tuesday.

Gary LaGrange, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans, said the proposed tax credit should win passage when the Legislature convenes later this month.

“We think it’s the greatest piece of apple-pie legislation,” LaGrange told the city-sponsored meeting, which explored how Louisiana could attract billions of dollars in new trade from the Panama Canal expansion in 2014.

LaGrange said the $10 per ton tax credit would apply to any Louisiana grown or manufactured products, both for import and for exports.

“Right now, about 58 percent of all Louisiana manufactured and grown products are being shipped out of other ports that are not in Louisiana,” he said.

The proposed tax credit — a break on Louisiana corporate income taxes — would offer shippers an incentive to use Louisiana ports, he said.

In 2008, 1.6 million tons of Louisiana products were generated for cargo shipments.

A similar bill failed in 2004, he said later.

“It didn’t pass because we didn’t do our homework, quite honestly. Since then, we have a new and improved tax credit bill … which provides a much better return for the state’s investment,” LaGrange said.

House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, will author the new bill, LaGrange said.

Meanwhile, the pro-business Baton Rouge Area Committee and GNO Inc. have jointly funded a new international trade study, GNO vice president Andrea St. Bland said. “The purpose of the study is to identify immediate, medium and long-term economic strategies for the state and the region.”

The study should be completed by June 15, she said.

City Councilman Arnie Fielkow said a “unified regional plan” for port improvements is needed or else the New Orleans area will fall further behind Mobile, Ala., Savannah, Ga., and other port cities. No such plan emerged Tuesday, however.

Signs of impatience did appear.

“Right now, we don’t have a vision for international trade in this state,” New Orleans shipping executive Gregory Rusovich, chairman of the influential New Orleans Business Council, said later.

Efforts to unite parishes behind a single plan have been frustrated by “parochialism” and competition for proposed port facilities, Rusovich said.

Once the BRAC/GNO study is completed, the governor’s help will be needed, he said.

“It’s very important, quite frankly, ultimately, for the Governor’s Office to be able to help develop this one singular vision for international trade,” Rusovich said.

State Sen. A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, an administration ally, told the city hearing that Gov. Bobby Jindal has allocated $100 million to port improvements. “(Jindal) realizes one out of every four jobs in the state is port-related,” Crowe said.

Louisiana should position itself to reap the benefits of an expanded Panama Canal, panel says

2009-04-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

by Jen DeGregorio, The Times-Picayune
Tuesday April 07, 2009, 4:58 PM

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/04/louisiana_should_position_itse.html

New Orleans City Council members heard from a panel of lawmakers and business leaders on Tuesday about ways Louisiana could benefit from an expansion of the Panama Canal.

With only five years to go before the expanded canal is set to open for business and flood the Gulf of Mexico with new shipping traffic, Councilman Arnie Fielkow said the council should support any plans that could make Louisiana ports stand out among their competitors.

"The greatest asset that we have in this community is the Mississippi River," said Fielkow, chair of the council's economic development committee, which hosted Tuesday's forum.

Panel members agreed about the need for a strategy to lure cargo from the canal, saying the initiative would create new jobs and tax dollars. But there was some contention about how best to accomplish the task. Sen. A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, said the state's best bet would be to construct a megaport along Southwest Pass, near the mouth of the river.

The world's largest cargo ships are too deep for the river, he said, and a port closer to open water would be the only hope to draw their cargo into Louisiana. Such a facility could benefit the Port of New Orleans, he said, with smaller ships taking cargo from larger vessels to ferry upriver for distribution by rail or truck. "It's business we don't have right now," said Crowe, who drafted legislation last year to create the Louisiana International Deep Water Gulf Transfer Terminal Authority, a state body that would govern a megaport near the river's mouth.

The complex could be up and running in as soon as two years, according to Crowe, who said a company has already proposed spending as much as $2 billion to build a new port on state-owned land along Southwest Pass. Louisiana Economic Development is considering the idea, and a formal proposal should be made public next month, he said. "That's a very, very bullish thing to happen," Crowe said of the proposal. Gary LaGrange, president and CEO of the Port of New Orleans, said a larger port near the mouth of the river should not come at the expense of cargo docks in New Orleans.

LaGrange is lobbying for a $500 million expansion of the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal, which he said would be needed to handle any new boxed cargo that may arise from Crowe's proposed transfer terminal.

"If you don't do that, you will lose your market edge .Â¥.Â¥. for when the Panama Canal does open," said LaGrange. At least one other plan for a major cargo facility has been discussed in recent months.

Sea Point, a transfer terminal proposed off the coast of Venice, would use an offshore platform to move containers from ships to barges that would then take the cargo up the Mississippi. Eugene Schreiber, managing director of the World Trade Center of New Orleans, a group that promotes trade with the city, described the fragmented plans as a downfall for the state.

The "lack of coordinated planning" has thwarted progress on any single effort to improve the state's port infrastructure, Schreiber said. Andrea St. Paul Bland, vice president of business development for the economic development group GNO Inc., hopes that her group will address that problem with a report that would suggest ways for Louisiana to leverage its port assets to compete with other states.

The study, which will assess world shipping trends as well as state port facilities, should be complete in June, St. Paul Bland said. Fielkow said he hoped that GNO would apprise the Legislature even sooner about any findings that could help lawmakers decide how best to address the Panama Canal expansion.

Although the city will play a supporting role by lobbying for the ports, state lawmakers will have to take the lead, Feilkow said. "We are a little behind the timeline," Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis, the only other council member at Tuesday's hearing, said of the state's efforts to capitalize on the canal expansion.

Jen DeGregorio can be reached at 504.826.3495 or jdegregorio@timespicayune.com.

Evergreen Upgrades its Far East- Panama Service (FPS)

2009-04-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.mgn.com/news/newsreleasedetails.cfm?id=7120&type=

Evergreen Line will adjust its weekly transit times on its Far East - Panama service (FPS), to improve the service it offers to its customers in Central America, the Caribbean and the West Coast of South America.

The company has reduced the transit time from its Taiwanese hub, Kaohsiung to the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas from 23 to just 16 days. The transit time from Shanghai to the Caribbean hub, Colon Container Terminal, is now only 25 days.

The FPS service port rotation is now:

Ningbao – Shanghai – Yangtian – Kaohsiung – Lazaro Cardenas – Colon Container Terminal - Ningbao

The first sailing operating with the revised schedule will be served by the 2,824 TEU ‘Irenes Remedy 0046-036’, which is due to start loading in Shanghai on 16 April 2009.

A company’s spokesperson stated:

“Evergreen is pleased that even in today’s challenging and competitive market in Latin America and the Caribbean we are able to find ways to develop our services and focus on our customers needs.”

Obama Sees ‘Glimmers of Hope’ of Improving Economy

2009-04-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said the U.S. economy is “starting to see progress” toward recovery even as it is “still under severe stress.”

“What we’re starting to see is glimmers of hope,” the president told reporters at the White House after getting an update on the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

While Obama cited a 20 percent increase in government- backed loans to small businesses “over the last month alone,” he added that “right now we’re still seeing a lot of job losses, a lot of hardship.”

The talks centered on stimulating the economy, stabilizing banks, reducing strain in the credit markets, the rising jobless rate, mortgage refinancing and the health assessment of banks, including “stress tests” being conducted by the Fed.

“We have always been very cautious about prognosticating, and that’s not going to change,” Obama said. “The economy’s still under severe stress, and obviously during these holidays we have to keep in mind that whatever we do ultimately has to translate into economic growth, and jobs, and rising incomes for the American people.”

Helping Homeowners

Obama told reporters he and his experts discussed stabilization in the financial system and efforts to keep people in their homes as a result of government programs to modify loans, leading to a pickup in refinancing.

The average rate on a U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 4.73 percent in the week ended April 3, the lowest since 1971. Fed policymakers last month kept the benchmark lending rate in a range of zero to 0.25 percent.

Obama didn’t mention the status of the Fed’s tests being conducted to see how the 19 largest U.S. banks would hold up if the recession worsens. Results may be released later this month.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Obama said. He didn’t take reporters’ questions.

There are signs of economic improvement. Orders placed with factories rose 1.8 percent in February, the first gain since July. Purchases of existing homes rose 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.72 million in February amid lower prices.

To be sure, the recession that began in December 2007 lingers. The unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent in March, the highest level since 1983, and employers have cut payrolls by 5.1 million workers since the start of the downturn, the worst performance in the postwar era.

The economy probably shrank at a 5 percent annual rate in the first quarter, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey earlier this month.

Top Advisers

Also attending today’s meeting were Mary Shapiro, chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; John Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency, an arm of the Treasury Department that regulates national banks; and Obama’s top economic advisers, Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, and Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Summers yesterday expressed confidence that the U.S. recession is nearing an end.

“We can be reasonably confident that is going to end within the next few months and you’ll no longer have that sense of free fall,” Summers told the Economic Club of Washington.

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net Last Updated: April 10, 2009 13:00 EDT