April 10, 2007

Panama President Martín Torrijos is in Campeche, Mexico, to meet with leaders from all countries participating in the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP). This Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) initiative aims to achieve regional integration by fostering free trade and socio-economic development from Mexico to Colombia. Important PPP projects include extending highways and electric cables, such that the entire region is integrated.

Other leaders attending the summit include presidents Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, Tony Saca of El Salvador, Oscar Berger of Guatemala, Felipe Calderón of Mexico, Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, and Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, as well as leaders from Nicaragua and Belize.

At the top of the agenda: discussions regarding a proposed $6 million refinery project (as part of a program dubbed the Mesoamerican Energy Integration Project), and Colombia’s formal induction into the PPP. The Dominican Republic has also expressed a desire to join the PPP, and this petition will be discussed at Campeche.

Since the PPP was implemented in 2001, nearly 100 projects have been carried out–an investment of about $8 million. Some critics of the PPP say that members need to evaluate initiatives that have not progressed as planned, and decide whether to maintain or discard them.

Best regards,

Jessica Ramesch
Editor, Panama Insider