La Llegada

A bird's eye view of Panama City's skyline implanted an impressive mark upon the mind of the twenty students of the IIEM programme whose destination was that of Latin America's "number one" country for business. Panama City was aglow in the evening sky and it was apparent that the country had been very successful in moderning and developing its urban landscape and attracting continued foreign investment and commercial activity.

The country of Panama is located on a narrow strip of land joining North and South America and has significant strategic value for trade among countries or cities. It is best known for the Canal which was opened in 1914 to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and to facilitate easier and more efficient transportation of goods and services among countries operating in the aforementioned spheres. Panama is also known for its strong service sector - primarily its financial sector, whose physical manifestation was observed in the form of numerous local and international banks which dotted the El Cangrejo area in the vicinity of our hotel - the Toscana Inn. After checking in we soon realized that Panama City was literally one that did not sleep. The city continued to bustle with acivity into the wee hours of the morning.

The IIEM academic staff worked feverishly to ensure that we all got to Panama and were provided with the opportunity to visit sites of interest. This study tour is of utmost importance because we can witness first hand, opportunities and the subsequent benefits that Trinidad and Tobago can gain from trade agreements with this country. Therefore it is of no surprise that we will be visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Panama Tourism Authority, the National University of Panama, the Colon Free Zone and the Panama Canal.

On Sunday morning we divided ourselves into our designated groups and started working toward our various goals which centered on viewing various aspects of Panama such as Infrastructure and Logistics, taking into account physical, corporate and regulatory aspects. We supplied preliminary assertions as to how Panama leveraged its resources to get where it desires and how this has allowed them to be extremely competitive and successful in their attempts to fuel economic growth.

It was during our group discussions we realized the following have helped Panama to solidify their stance as the ideal place to conduct business in Latin America:

• Panama benefits from its location and its Canal is recognised as one of the Wonders of the World.
• Panama chose to focus very heavily on the services sector to reduce dependency on the Canal for revenue generation

This has resulted in a lot of foreign investment coming into Panama which means that there are actually policies and laws that assist or facilitate good, ethical and safe working relationships to sustain the developmental path that the country is on.

We look forward to our first official visit the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday to learn more about this exciting area and what it can mean for us and by extension our country.

By: Shantelle, Liz and Deidre