Dignitaries Visit Panama Canal

Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the company of President Martín Torrijos and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta at the Miraflores Locks control room. A week after Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva toured the Panama Canal with a delegation of Brazilian investors, El Salvadoran President Elías Antonio Saca visited the Canal as part of an official two-day tour to the country.

President Saca visited the Miraflores Locks in the company of Panamanian President Martín Torrijos and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta. They briefed him on the Canal Expansion Project and the leaders discussed its importance to the region’s trade. Like his Brazilian counterpart the week before, President Saca applauded ACP’s plan for expansion and, in a public statement thanking President Torrijos and the ACP, President Saca echoed Lula’s thoughts about this important project.

President Lula’s visit to Panama was part of a tour through Central American countries focused on promoting cooperation agreements and Brazilian investments in the region. Brazil is the 18th largest user of the interoceanic waterway by trade flow, according to 2006 ACP data.