FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
China-Built High-Speed Rail Will Transform Panama, Industry Minister Predicts
March 15, 2018 (EIRNS)—In remarks reported by Spain’s EFE news service March 13, Panama’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Augusto Arosemena reported that the proposed high-speed passenger and cargo rail line that China will build from Panama City north to the Costa Rican border, will transform the nation.
In much the way the construction of the Panama Canal did 100 years ago, Arosemena said that the new line, whose construction will begin in 2022, will change Panama’s “dynamic.” Plans are advancing rapidly, he said, explaining that Chinese technical experts have visited the country frequently, to work on the feasibility study and determine the project’s benefits for the country.
Xinhua reported March 1 that the head of Costa Rica’s foreign trade office, Lil Marie Rodriguez, also commented enthusiastically about the proposed rail line’s potential for increasing trade and economic activity in the region, with China’s backing. Panama and Costa Rica can work together, she said, to take advantage of the opportunities China offers.
Arosemena pointed out that not only will the proposed rail line connect the capital of Panama City to the country’s interior, but hopefully at some future point, will unite all the countries of Central America. A Central American rail line that will connect to Mexico and the United States, extending through North America to the proposed Bering Strait Rail Tunnel, is an essential feature in the concept for a World Land-Bridge put forward by Lyndon and Helga LaRouche.
