President Chen Shui-bian met with Panama's First Congress Speaker Pro Temp Jorge Hernán Rubio at the Office of the President on March 22, celebrating the solid friendship between the two countries and expressing Taiwan's will to participate in the Panama Canal expansion project.
Speaker Pro Temp Rubio led a delegation of four congress members to the meeting, namely Susana Richa de Torrijos, Mayra Zuñiga, Dorindo Jayan Cortez Marciaga, and Alejandro Vanegas Rosero.
Among Taiwan's diplomatic allies, the president has visited the Republic of Panama most often, i.e., three times since he took office in the year 2000. The president particularly mentioned to the guests his friendship with President Martin Torrijos, pointing out that President Torrijos's executive programs include the expansion of the Panama Canal, in which the president is very much interested. "In support of President Torrijos, Taiwan would like to participate in the Panama Canal expansion project," the president told the guests.
Praising the congress of Panama, the president regarded it and its members as the catalyst that has expedited the birth of Taiwan's free trade agreements with Central American allies. "Owing to the consensus reached by you and your colleagues," the president said, "Taiwan signed its first free trade agreement with Panama, which has encouraged many other Central American countries to follow."
To the fact that Panama Canal connects the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans in an east-west manner, the president compared the Taiwan High Speed Railway, to be completed by the end of this year, as the traffic arteries across Taiwan from the north to the south. "I truly welcome you all to enjoy a ride with me on the Taiwan high speed railway when it is completed," the president invited the guests.
"During our stay in Taiwan, we wished to seize the opportunity to learn from Taiwan's invaluable success experiences. We hope you will visit Panama again soon in the future, and may our friendship grow and last forever," the guests said and reciprocated the president's hospitality.