Panama keen to doing business with Puerto Rican companies
Jose Javier Rivera, chairman of the Panamanian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, voiced interest in having Puerto Rican companies vie for infrastructure project contracts in this Central American country, including the tourist sector.
Mr. Rivera said that Puerto Rico’s companies –in a joint effort with their Panamanian counterparts- could work on an array of projects such as the expansion of the Panama Canal, road building and other infrastructure programs.
“Puerto Rico could take part in development projects for the Panama Canal, as well as in technology, trade and other businesses,” Mr. Rivera told AP news agency on the heels of a meeting with Governess Sila Maria Calderon in which he invited her for the 11th Tradeshow scheduled for March 12 in Panama City.
Mr. Rivera also mentioned the possibility of forging mergers in the fields of tourism, port development, transportation and information exchange.
The Puerto Rican Governess will be the honor speaker in this year’s tradeshow, and that –in Mr. Rivera’s opinion- will open up a window of opportunity to improve economic ties between both nations.
Seven Latin American Presidents attended last year’s tradeshow in which $111.6 million worth of commercial transactions were sealed, the high-ranking Panamanian official pointed out.
Mr. Rivera anticipated that a delegation of Panamanian corporate people with pay back Governess Calderon’s visit with the dispatch of a trade mission to Puerto Rico from April 2 to 5.
For his part, Puerto Rico’s Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado also told AP that his administration will do everything within its reach to foster commercial exchanges with Panama and give local enterprises the chance of doing business in that country.
“There are huge opportunities for Puerto Rican entrepreneurs and they will count on the cooperation of Panama’s Chamber of Commerce to build joint ventures,” the top official explained at the end of his meeting with Governess Calderon.
