Panama City, Apr 13 (EFE).- The President of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, received this Thursday the President of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, with whom he discussed “the need to deepen” relations in the commercial, tourism and strategic associations in sectors such as energy.
“First, I would like to thank the President of Panama very much for the deference he has shown when receiving us today, I think it has been a recognition of the relations that have always existed between Spain and Panama, between Galicia and Panama, and that they still exist,” Rueda told journalists shortly after the meeting, held at the Las Garzas presidential palace in the Panamanian capital.
Rueda highlighted that “a third of the Spaniards who are in Panama today are Galician or of Galician origin”, and that “important Galician companies” work in this Central American country in areas ranging from “infrastructures to everything that has to do with with fish production.
“An important part of what is caught with the Galician fleet is unloaded here in Panama and then sent to other places. There is also an important relationship in what has to do with the primary sector, agricultural products that are exported from Galicia and vice versa and we have talked about the need to delve into all of this”, he stated.
Rueda, who arrived in Panama on Wednesday, also raised with Cortizo the possibility of establishing future alliances within the framework of the development of green hydrogen given the Panamanian intention of becoming a “hub” of this “energy of the future”, in which Galicia is interested.
“We have talked about economic relations, possible exchanges, the possibility of establishing a kind of intermediate point here in Panama for Galician exports to certain parts of the world” taking advantage of the country’s privileged geographical position, he added.
The president of the Xunta invited Cortizo to visit Galicia and urged him to “do even a small stretch of the Camino de Santiago, our brand” during it.
Regarding tourism, Rueda spoke that Galicia and Panama could establish agreements on the matter, since “post-pandemic tourism, where people look for spaces, nature (…) fits perfectly to Galicia and also to Panama, therefore I think that we can do many things”.
The president of the Xunta also thanked Cortizo for recognizing “the presence of Galicians” in the construction of the Panama Canal more than 100 years ago, with the installation of a monument at the entrance to the interoceanic highway.
“Approximately 12,000 Galicians were here (…) they were fundamental protagonists in the construction of an engineering work that forever changed communications in the world and continues to change them to this day,” he added.
In this sense, a statement from the Presidency of Panama indicated that “Panama welcomes as a well-deserved recognition the initiative of the Nosa Terra Foundation to build a monument at the entrance of the Canal in honor of the significant participation of thousands of Galicians who arrived at these land for the construction of the interoceanic highway”.
The official letter from the Panamanian Government indicated that President Cortizo thanked Rueda for his visit and took the opportunity to detail Panama’s progress in getting off the discriminatory lists of the International Financial Action Task Force (GAFI), in which he was included in June 2019.
“The regional president addressed Galicia’s interest in strengthening commercial and economic alliances with our country and that ‘those human and commercial relations’ with a country where some 4,000 Galicians currently live are closer every day,” he added.