The Foreign Relations Commission of the National Assembly approved this 23 April, in the first debate, the bill 305 ratifying the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Republic of Korea and the Republics of Central America.
With this treaty, Panama has ample commercial opportunities, considering that South Korea is one of the country’s main investors in different sectors of the economy, even without an FTA, and with the ratification of the agreement opens a window of possibilities, given the established legal guarantees and certainty.
The session was attended by the Minister of Trade and Industries (Mici), Ramón Martínez, and the ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Panama, Choo Won Hoon.
During the discussion, Minister Martinez explained that this FTA project negotiated the inclusion of banking, insurance and reinsurance, and securities such as Panamanian services that can be established in South Korea, with treatment similar to that received by Korean investors, “a very interesting and important aspect from a Panamanian perspective of economic growth”.
It also seeks to promote competitiveness and innovation through modalities established in the agreement, such as the exchange of experiences, best practices, technical assistance and reimbursable and non-refundable financial cooperation, including triangular cooperation in areas such as mypimes, transport, logistics and distribution, agriculture, culture and tourism, health industry, sustainable development and audiovisual services and co-production.
The Ministry of Commerce analyses and implements the strategies that will be implemented once Panama manages to overcome the pandemic by Covid-19. In this sense, the Republic of Korea, China and Japan are projected as the first countries to emerge from the pandemic crisis, and as the first to revive their imports, which represents for Panama an opportunity, within the strategies pushed by the National Government to revive the economy and generate jobs.
Source: The Panama Star.
