Ｐａｎａｍａｎｉａｎ Ｍａｙｏｒｓ Ｇｏｏｄｗｉｌｌ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ ｉｎ Ｃｈｉｎａ

A 7-member Panamanian mayors goodwill delegation headed by Plinio Donoso， mayor of Santiago of Veraguas Province， paid a friendly visit to Beijing， Shanghai， Shijiazhuang， Gaobeidian and Baoding from March 14 to 24 at the invitation of the CPAFFC and the Foreign Affairs Office of Hebei Province. During its stay in China， Mayor Donoso and Mayor Buchahin Alberto of Boquete respectively signed letters of intent on the establishment of friendship-city relations with Baoding and Gaobeidian.

At their meetings with the delegation， relevant leading officials of Hebei， Beijing and Shanghai as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled the history of friendly contacts between the two countries and the development of bilateral relations in the political， economic， trade and other fields in recent years. They pointed out， China and Panama are highly complementary economically and have good cooperation prospects in economy and trade. Due to the fact that there is no diplomatic relations between the two countries， cooperation in the areas of trade， investment， economy， technology， etc. between the two sides has been restricted. They said， Gen. Omar Torrijos Herrera received international aid in the struggle to recover the sovereign right over the Panama Canal. The Chinese Government also rendered selfless support. The Taiwan issue involves China’s sovereignty. The Government and people of Panama have waged an indomitable struggle to safeguard their state sovereignty and they could understand China better and thus support China’s policy of reunification. They expressed appreciation of the two Panamanian cities which pressed ahead with the twinning of friendship-city ties with their Chinese counterparts despite obstructions and hoped that the friendship-city relations between the two pairs of cities would bear rich fruit and contribute positively to the normalization of relations between the two countries.

Mayor Buchahin Alberto said， China has achieved eye-catching successes since it adopted the policy of reform and opening up. It is in conformity with the interests of the state and people of Panama to develop relations with China and goes against the tide to maintain the so-called “diplomatic relations” with Taiwan.

Through the visit the delegation held， there are broad prospects for cooperation in all fields between China and Panama. The annual bilateral trade volume has increased very fast in recent years， reaching 1.5 billion US dollars last year. There is great potential for economic and trade cooperation. The twinning of friendship-city ties will no doubt provide more convenience and broader scope for bilateral cooperation.