living in the territory under the consulate’s jurisdiction. Keep in mind
that this is a small number because
Ambassador Sosa: Panama has Panamanians hardly emigrate. There
more than fifty consulates around are two countries in Latin America
the world which are designated Mer- that you don’t find as much immichant Marine Consulates. Panama gration as other countries. One is
has the largest ship registry in the Panama and the other is Costa Rica.
world. More than 8,000 ships are un- This is because in both cases Panader the Panamanian flag which rep- manians and Costa Ricans find that
resents in excess of twenty percent of they have more opportunities in
the commercial vessels in the world. their own countries and according to
The Merchant Marine Consulates polls, have a high degree of “happiserve Panama’s registry in terms of ness”. Actually about 40% of those
registration of ships, collection of 10,000 Panamanians are in Houston
taxes, providing licenses to seafarers. and they are served by the consulate
It is a very important part of the con- for visas, passports and other endeavsulates’ role and one of the reasons ors.
why Panama is the #1 ship registry n
the world. The first role though is to Another key role of the consulate is
to promote business opportunities in
serve Panamanians in the area.
Panama. The conference is part of
The Houston Consulate serves Texas, promoting Panama and the hemiOklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexi- sphere as a trade and investment partco. We estimate 10,000 Panamanians ner. Houston and Texas is the num-
Melissa: Tell us about your role
as the Consul General of Panama.
ber trade partner with Panama and
the hemisphere and he expansion of
the Panama Canal will help to keep
this leadership position.
Melissa: Is there anything else
that you would like to share with
us?
Ambassador Sosa: Panama has
always been a trade corridor and it
was the very first trade corridor in
the Americas. The first settlement of
Spaniards on the Pacific was Panama City that will celebrate in 2019
its 500 year anniversary August 13,
2019! Panama continues to be an
important trade corridor and be of
service to the world.
Melissa Y. Herrera, iF Magazine
Director Of Business Development
iF Magazine | www.iFMagazine.net
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