Panama approaches MERCOSUR

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino accepted the proposal to begin an integration process into the Southern Common Market (MECOSUR), after participating in the meeting of heads of state of this block of countries held this Monday in Paraguay.

Mulino described the invitation that has been made to Panama as an enormous and historic opportunity to be integrated into one of the largest economies in the world, where the Panamanian part would provide the countries of this bloc with a world of financial and logistical connections that include operation of the Panama Canal as one of the main world trade routes.

“I believe in integration because alone in the world we are nothing. And our country has a world of connections and access to important cities in the world with which we can connect such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea, among other markets,” Mulino highlighted after accepting the invitation to begin integration with MERCOSUR.

Mulino asked the presidents of the countries that already make up MERCOSUR for the route that Panama should follow to join this block of countries. But he made it clear that everything would be in consensus and coordination of the Panamanian private sector, including producers and industrialists.

Mulino also took advantage of his participation to highlight the opportunities that Panama is about to open internationally, such as the construction of a train that could be the spearhead to unite all of Central America, the canalization of the Indio River that will allow it to provide more water to the Canal to maintain its operations in dry seasons, and the construction of the third runway of the international airport that will strengthen the successful and so-called Hub of the Americas with more than 15 destinations in South America alone.

He also maintained that the Panama Canal will soon announce three investment projects that are not related to transit.

MERCOSUR is an integration process led by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, forming a bloc that represents the 5th economy in the world, with more than 271 million inhabitants and a Gross Domestic Product of 4.6 trillion dollars.