FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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President Xi’s Visit to Panama Will Enhance New Silk Road in the Americas

Nov. 29, 2018 (EIRNS)—A day after his highly anticipated dinner meeting with President Donald Trump on Dec. 1, President Xi Jinping will head for Panama, for a state visit which will advance the relations established with Panama only in June 2017, when Panama cut ties with Taipei, and established diplomatic relations with Beijing.

Xi will meet Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela in Panama City, where the two will witness the signing of about 20 agreements to cooperate in areas such as commerce, technology and infrastructure during the unprecedented Dec. 2-3 visit, according to the Panamanian President’s office. Foreign Minister Isabel Saint Malo announced today that President Xi is expected to present President Varela with the completed feasibility study for the high-speed rail line between Panama City and David, which China prepared with Panamanian technical input.

The Varela government is enthusiastic, as are many Panamanians, about their country’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, through which Panama can become one of the world’s leading logistics centers and a key point of continental development. Trade Minister Augusto Arosemena told the Britain’s Guardian yesterday: “We will become the gateway for Chinese goods into Latin America. I think Panama will be an example of how smaller countries can negotiate with China.”