Panama: Day Four

Panama is known as "The World's Most Famous Shortcut" and flying into Panama City made this very obvious. From the air we could see ships lined up in the ocean waiting to get through the lock system of the Panama Canal. At the time I didn’t think about how big these ships must be to be visible from our altitude, but later when we toured the canal from the ground it was amazing to see their size.

One of Panama's problems right now is the size of the ships. They need to widen the canal and are anticipating that their legislature will approve a referendum this fall to do just that. The largest ships that can get through the canal are appropriately named Panamax ships. They are fearful that if they do not widen the canal their economy may suffer as larger and larger ships are built that will not fit through the canal.

Our first stop in Panama City was at the Ambassador's residence were we had our usual briefings from individuals from the political, economic, and agricultural sectors of their country. We also met the Ambassador, Bill Eaton, who is relatively new to his position, but you would never realize if from talking with him. He has only been the ambassador for 4 months, but he is very knowledgeable about Panama and has a great understanding of the country and its people.

We learned that 70,000 Christmas trees were imported to Panama this past season from Canada and only Canada. Panama is very concerned about diseases and environmental issues and so is cautious about not only imports, but products that pass through its canal.

Unlike the other countries we visited, Panama is primarily a service economy. One of their main industries, outside of the canal and shipping of course, is banking. Consequently, Panama City is a very sophisticated looking city with beautiful tall buildings. Another reason for the taller buildings is that it is less likely to suffer from earthquakes than Guatemala or Costa Rica, so higher structures can be built.

Another difference is that the infrastructure in Panama is very strong. Panama has enjoyed a very stable government and strong economy. The US military exited in 1999, but there is still a very strong US feel to the country. Seventy percent of the products sold in their stores are US products and they use the US dollar as their currency. As with the other countries we visited, tourism is a big and growing industry for them.

After lunch with a former Panamanian president, Dr. Nicholas Ardito Barletto, we headed back to our hotel for an afternoon of focused discussions with our counterparts in Panama.

My group talked with a representative from BAISA, the agricultural stock exchange in Panama. The delegates from government organizations on our trip met with government officials from Panama and those from educational institutions met with Panamanian educators.

BAISA focuses specifically on agricultural products such as corn, rice, beans, beets, tomato products, chicken, etc. Unlike bidding in the US that starts low and goes up, bidding in Panama on the BAISA exchange starts with the lowest bid and goes lower. There is no minimum necessary to trade, so even small farmers and producers sell their products through BAISA.

We ended our day, and really our trip, with a Friends of Indiana reception and then headed to a beautiful restaurant for dinner that overlooked the canal and locks.

As we ended our day I continued to think about how much Central America has to offer and what a great opportunity it is for Indiana.