Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday met Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Eduardo Martinez-Acha Vasquez and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation across trade, investment, logistics, digital collaboration and business-to-business engagement.
Following the meeting, Goyal said the two sides held “productive discussions” on deepening the India-Panama partnership.
“We held productive discussions on deepening the India-Panama partnership across trade, investment, logistics, digital cooperation and business-to-business engagement,” Goyal said in a post on X.
He said the discussions also focused on improving market access, creating new opportunities for bilateral trade and leveraging India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), to enhance cooperation in digital payments and digital governance.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal held bilateral talks with Vasquez to strengthen maritime cooperation between the two countries. The two sides identified logistics, shipping, maritime security, skill development and digital transformation as key pillars of an expanded strategic partnership.
During his visit to India, Vasquez also called for elevating bilateral ties into a long-term strategic partnership, describing India as “already a superpower” and pitching Panama as India’s gateway to Latin America for trade, investment and global supply chains.
Speaking during delegation-level talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi on Monday, Vasquez said it was a privilege to visit India at a time when the country is playing an increasingly significant role in shaping the global order.
Highlighting Panama’s strategic location, he said the country could serve as a vital link for India’s engagement with Latin America.
“We may be a small country geographically, but we have always believed that our value is measured by the connections we create, not by the size of our territory. Just as India connects ideas, Panama connects markets. The Panama Canal is more than an engineering achievement. It is a platform for trusted global commerce,” Vasquez said.
He added that Panama should be viewed as “a strategic extension” of India’s international economic outreach.
“We would like India to see Panama as a strategic extension of its international economic outreach. Panama is, as you mentioned, India’s main gateway to Latin America and to Central America,” he said.
(With inputs from ANI)
