Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Spanish, Italian, Chinese construction firms eye projects in Panama
Construction firms from Spain, Italy and China are interested in public works in Panama, Vice President Isabel Saint Malo told Reuters, filling a gap left by Brazil’s Odebrecht, which is banned from tendering in the wake of a graft scandal.
“Latin America and Panama needs companies to understand that my country will no longer permit corruption in public works. There will be consequences,” Saint Malo said in an interview last week.
“Odebrecht has maintained a presence in Panama for many years but we want new companies to arrive,” she said. “And companies are arriving … There are Spanish companies, Italian companies, Chinese companies with a lot of interest.” She declined to name the companies as conversations were ongoing.
Source: Reuters
IAEA Helps Panama Strengthen Occupational Radiation Protection
Panama recently became the 10th Latin American country to host an IAEA Occupational Radiation Protection Appraisal Service (ORPAS), underlining its commitment toward ensuring the safety of workers exposed to radiation as part of their jobs.
A six-member IAEA-led ORPAS team spent 5 to 9 February 2018 in Panama, assessing occupational radiation protection at industrial and medical facilities as well as technical and scientific support organizations against recommendations in IAEA safety standards. Facilities visited included the country’s cyclotron, which provides radiopharmaceuticals to Costa Rica, Cuba and other countries in the region.
Source: IAEA
Triple Hat Trick: 9 Reasons to Recommend a Trip to Panama
The term “hat trick” is used when a hockey player scores three goals in one game. In Panama, hats take on a special significance when they refer to the traditional brimmed toquilla straw hat: light-coloured, lightweight and perfect in the Panama heat.
When I left Toronto recently, it was 32 F, and six hours later, armed with only a baseball cap, I was relishing the 91 F temperature as I walked to the old city along the skyscraper residential towers on Avenida Balboa, the main thoroughfare that hugs the Gulf of Panama.
In my first visit since 2013, I quickly discovered why tourism statistics keep rising (2.5 million visited in 2017), as Panama showcases energy, music, food, special interests and enjoyment. Here are 9 reasons (the triple Panama Hat Trick) why your clients will love your suggestion to visit the country.
Source: Travel Market Report
Major World Bank Project to Help Panama’s Indigenous
Panama is a country with a diverse and complicated history when it comes to its indigenous. There are approximately half a million indigenous in Panama, making up around 12% of the total population, split into eight tribes (Embera, Kuna, Ngobe-Bugle, Guayami, Bokota, Talamanca, Teribe, and Wounaan).
Despite making up over 10% of the total population, Panama’s indigenous suffer the most poverty per capita of any demographic in the country, and that makes it hard for many of them to live a quality life. For centuries, political and cultural clashes between the indigenous and the government have made progress hard, but things are slowly changing, and are about to get a big leg up from the World Bank.
Source: International Relocation Firm Blog
