business

U.S. delegation to promote FTA

Several American business leaders are confident the FTA will be passed.

A delegation of “high level” business leaders will travel from the U.S. to Panama on Thursday to reaffirm their support for the proposed Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

“We've been working hard to achieve bipartisan support....Certainly I think that Panama should receive a high margin of approval when [Congress] votes on the issue,” said the Panamanian ambassador in Washington, Federico Humbert. John Murphy, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, said he feels "great optimism" that the agreement will be approved.

“The votes [in Congress] are there, it is only a matter of putting it on the calendar,” he said. Bill Lane, senior executive of Caterpillar, commented that he has not heard negative views about the proposal from his Congressional sources. Regina Vargo showed more caution, saying, “I feel encouraged, but these votes on trade are always hard.”

Some years ago, Vargo led the U.S. negotiating team for the free trade agreement, and was hired by the Panamanian business community to lobby for the agreement. There are only a few weeks left on the Congressional calendar this year, leading some to believe that the issue will have to be approved by the next American president.

This could prove difficult as Democrats have generally opposed free trade agreements during the presidential campaign. The U.S. delegation will meet with President Martín Torrijos and other government officials, as well as representatives of the Panamanian business community.