LatinNews Daily - 26 April 2023

* India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has visited Panama in what is the first trip to the country by an Indian foreign minister since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1962. While in Panama, Jaishankar met President Laurentino Cortizo and Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney and agreed to boost ties in “areas of politics, the economy, culture, cooperation and investment”. A statement by Panama’s foreign ministry says that India considers Panama as a “gateway” to the region and an entry point to the Latin American market with regards to technology, medicines production, and strengthening firms specialising in pharmaceutical production via Panama’s logistics hub. According to a statement by the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), a leading trade promotion agency, India is considering the option of establishing a logistics hub in Panama for its companies, while it cited Jaishankar as saying that his meeting with Tewaney also “covered topics such as affordable healthcare and decentralised production of medicines, as well as potential cooperation in energy and renewable energy”. According to the TPCI statement both parties agreed that Panamanian delegations, from both the government and business sectors, will visit India later this year. While in Panama, Jaishankar also attended a meeting of the Central American integration system (SICA) and agreed that India would cooperate in “areas of food security, connectivity, agriculture, renewable energy, information technology, health and other areas of mutual interest”, without providing further details. Jaishankar’s visit to Panama follows a meeting between the Indian delegation and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) which took place in Guyana’s capital Georgetown on 21 April.