President Lee Teng-hui this morning meets with a Panamanian delegation led by Foreign Minister Ricardo Alberto Arias Arias.
During the meeting Minister Arias says it is a great honor for Panama that President Lee accepts the invitation to attend the World Conference on the Panama Canal scheduled for September 1997.
The control over the Canal will be transferred from the United States to Panama in the year 2000, and by that time the management and operation of the Canal will assuredly be crucial to the Panama economy, the Minister adds.
Minister Arias also notes that his country attaches great importance to the close ties between both countries and looks forward to even closer bilateral cooperation and exchanges.
President Lee tells his guests that the invitation from President Ernesto Perez Balladares of Panama is not only an honor but also a responsibility to him. Taking the conference very seriously, the ROC government has set up an ad hoc group to come up with concrete suggestions regarding the future operation of the Panama Canal, in the hope that Panama can enjoy maximum benefit from the canal, he adds.
President Lee also hopes that ROC-Panama relations will be greatly enhanced in the years to come with the cooperation of both countries in different fields.
The seven-member Panama delegation, which includes Finance Minister Miguel Heras Castro, is accompanied by ROC Vice Foreign Minister Chen Chien-jen and Panama Ambassador Carlos A. Mendoza to come to the Office of the President for the meeting. Dr. Ding Mou-shih, Secretary-General of the ROC National Security Council, and Mr. Stephen S.F. Chen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Office of the President, are also present.