MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) Beijing believes that relations between China and Panama after the coronavirus pandemic will become closer, and there will be even more opportunities for bilateral cooperation, the office of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson told Sputnik as the countries marked the third anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations last month.
In June 2017, Panama and China, the second-largest user of the Panama Canal, established official diplomatic relations, as the Central American country had broken ties with Taiwan.
"We are convinced that after the end of the epidemic, relations between China and Panama will be closer, and bilateral cooperation will have even more opportunities," the office said.
According to the ministry, over the past three years, bilateral relations have been rapidly developing. Mutual trust between the two countries continues to deepen and real cooperation is bearing fruit. In particular, between January and May, the volume of bilateral trade increased by 15.9 percent, while Panama's export to China grew 14 times.
"In the context of a major blow of a new type of the coronavirus infection to world trade, achieving such results in China's trade with Panama was not easy. This fully demonstrates the full power and enormous potential of bilateral trade," the office said.
In addition, since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Panama has been actively supporting China. According to the ministry, since China has overcome difficulties, the country is now actively raising funds to transfer them to Panama to help combat COVID-19.
In the past three years, China and Panama have concluded over 50 agreements on cooperation in different fields, including the economy, trade, finance, tourism and culture. In 2019, the volume of bilateral trade amounted to $8.387 billion, which is 19.4 percent more than in 2018. At the same time, Panama's exports to China grew by 444.5 percent.
