Intra-regional trade is the hottest concept since using your phone as a credit card terminal.Colombia and Panama wanted to stay hip so today they began talks around signing a free trade pact.
Panama is awash with Chinese goods, but Panama’s Vice Minister of Trade Francisco Alvarez De Soto thinks there's plenty of room for Colombian products in the Panamanian market.
“Panama would be an interesting market for Colombia,” De Soto said in an interview in Panama City. “We are a threat to no one.”
Beyond that surprisingly blasé explanation, another reason for the urgency around the pact, according to Business Week:
"Colombian exports to Venezuela may fall by about two-thirds to $1.5 billion this year as a lingering recession and electricity crisis there further suppress demand, central bank chief Jose Dario Uribe said last month."
Ouch.
Colombia's FTA with Panama very well may come to pass before the slow-moving deal with the US, though the Panama deal may give Congress a boost to push the ball forward.
Online sources: Business Week, Reuters, TechCrunch
Image Source: Fernando Botero "Masacre" via Huffington Post
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