New Delhi: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Monday expressed India’s willingness to have closer ties with Panama as it offers a strategic location and enormous economic stability for a partner like New Delhi.
In his opening remarks during a meeting with visiting Panama counterpart Javier Martinez-Acha Vasquez in New Delhi on Monday, EAM Jaishankar highlighted willingness from both sides to deepen partnership. He expressed hope that Javier Martinez-Acha Vasquez’s visit will further strengthen ties between the two nations across all domains.
“We had met recently during the fifth India-SICA Ministerial meeting which the two of us had co-chaired last September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. But, your current visit builds on the momentum of high-level exchanges that we’ve had and I believe that both our governments, both our leaders are very keen at deepening and widening our partnership. And certainly we look forward closer ties with Panama because you offer both a very strategic location as well as enormous economic stability and potential for a partner like India,” said EAM Jaishankar.
He noted that India and Panama work closely in the United Nations and other multilateral forums. India, said EAM Jaishankar, values Panama’s interest in collaborating across several sectors, including education, scholarships, pharmaceuticals, technology and trade.
“Panama serves as a natural bridge for us for global trade routes as a gateway for the wider Latin America region and anchored by the Panama Canal, your logistics infrastructure certainly sets a global landmark. We value your interest in collaborating across a wide array of domains from education, scholarships, pharmaceuticals, technology, and of course, most important, trade. We note that you have had a consistently high growth trajectory, and as we ourselves accelerate our development towards the quest of Viksit Bharat or developed India by 2047, we do think our bilateral relationship will get more important,” said EAM Jaishankar.
He also expressed gratitude to Panama for expressing support for India’s right to self-defence after the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April 2025.
“I would like to thank you and the government of Panama for your expression of solidarity and support for our right of self-defence in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist attack that we had last year and for your very clear-cut condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Again, I believe that your visit builds on an existing momentum between our two ties, and I look forward to our discussions today, which I’m very confident will help to widen our partnership.”
(IANS)
