Caribbean & Central America - April 2013 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Resuming FTA talks with Colombia: Between 11-15 March, the sixth round of negotiations regarding a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and Panama took place in the Colombian city of Medellín. This followed the 23 February announcement by Panama’s trade minister, Ricardo Quijano, that the talks which had been suspended in October 2010 would resume. According to Colombia’s trade ministry, exports to Panama grew by 32.3% in 2012 to a value of US$2.86bn, 87% of which corresponded to oil, coal and other mining products. Meanwhile imports from Panama reached US$71.6m, mainly comprising machinery and equipment (54.4%) and basic chemicals (11.3%).

• Panama’s FTA with Canada takes effect

On 1 April, a free trade agreement (FTA) between Panama and Canada finally took effect, five years after negotiations began in 2008. The deal was ratified by Panama’s unicameral legislature in May 2010 and by Canada in September 2012. According to the latest figures from Canada’s department for foreign trade and international affairs, bilateral trade reached US$235m in 2011, up 105% on the previous five years.