Panama tourism and investment meetings

Like every small country, who you know can make a difference in how easy is your entry into the Panamanian market. These 3 events provide opportunities to network with Panamanians and foreigners active in the foreign and private sectors.

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August 23, 2007
AmCham Events, Sponsorships and Notes
Telephone +507-301-3881; Fax +507-301-3882
Ocean Business Plaza, 17th Floor, Avenida Aquilino de la Guardia

AmCham’s Seventh Annual Tourism Forum will be held on September 19 at the InterContinental Playa Bonita Resort & Spa. This year we are inviting the renowned expert on global business for Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Dr. Rohit Talwar, to discuss trends in world tourism business. In addition, there will be five speakers from Panama and the United States, including Panama’s Minister of tourism Rubén Blades, who will participate in the round table discussion with Dr. Talwar at the end of their presentations. We will have two levels of sponsorship this year: The Gold Sponsorship will entitle the company to three tickets to the forum, its logo on all advertising, its banner in the event room and a table at the entrance to market its products; The Platinum Sponsorship will include 15 tickets to a private dinner with Dr. Talwar on the evening of the 19th and ten tickets to the event plus the logo, advertising and banner. The cost of tickets for the event is $50.00 per person. Payment must be made at the Chamber by September 17. Space is limited. For reservations, call Aileen at 301-3881 or e‑mail amcham @ panamcham.com.

Panama Week 2007 Conference. USPA will hold its annual Panama Week Conference in Washington DC on October 18-19 at the Westin Embassy Row Hotel. The conference will include Forums on Trade & Investment and Transportation & the Expansion of the Panama Canal, the traditional Gala “Friendship Dinner” at the Organization of American States, a Power Breakfast on the Trade Promotion Agreement, meetings at the U.S. Department of Commerce and lunch at the Embassy of Panama hosted by Panama’s Ambassador to Washington, H.E. Federico Humbert.
A rooming block has been reserved at the Westin Embassy Row hotel for participants at a special rate of $309 plus tax. Make reservations through USPA.

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FIABCI’s 2007 Congress of the Americas will take place in Panama City 31 October – 2nd November. FIABCI is an international real estate federation of 100 real estate associations and represented by chapters in 48 countries according to the FIABCI website, including FIABCI-Panama.
The Congress will be held at the Sheraton Panama Hotel and Convention Centre. Early registration fees for members will be US$ 300. Early registration fees for Young Members will be US$ 150.
Additional information is available from USPA.

Latin America's real estate Panamania

Once a sleepy Latin American capital, Panama City has become one of the world's hottest real estate markets. How long can the fever last?

By Eliza Barclay, Fortune Magazine

July 3 2007: 3:44 AM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) -- Off in the distance, where Panama Bay becomes the Pacific, container ships loaded with merchandise bound for the U.S. bob in the haze. Closer in, a flock of construction cranes hovers over densely clustered high-rises. Fourteen stories below, on Balboa Avenue, cars inch along, their windows sealed tight against the sweltering heat.

The view belongs to Jim and Imogene Buckley, a retired couple from Greensboro, Ga., who purchased their one-bedroom condo a few years ago, before it was built, for $140,000. The apartment, which they'll use every other winter month, alternating with another couple from Wyoming, gives them a ringside seat overlooking one of the world's hottest real estate markets.

Panama looked like a good investment and a place to have a good time," says Jim Buckley, 76, a former U.S. Air Guard pilot, while admiring the view. "You don't need a lot of sense to see that it will increase in property value."

Panamania - See the boom

Panama City is in the midst of an unprecedented real estate boom that is transforming the skyline of this once-sleepy Latin American capital. More than 30,000 units worth about $5.7 billion have come on the market since last July, according to Paul McBride, CEO of Prima Panama, a real estate marketing company.

That's a lot of condos in a country where the total economy measured $16.2 billion last year. And the boom shows no sign of abating: Among the showiest of the new projects is the Ice Tower, a 106-story luxury apartment building and Hilton Hotel complex that will be the tallest building in Latin America when it is completed in 2011. Even Donald Trump has a project on the boards.

Part of what's driving growth in Panama City, where the median apartment price recently surpassed the median home price in the U.S., is a wave of retirees from North America, like the Buckleys, looking for a place in the sun. So far, few Americans have moved permanently, but many are buying second homes or just plain speculating. Europeans are here too, and there's plenty of new wealth in Latin America, in places like Venezuela and Colombia, looking for a safe haven.

Construction workers on the Punta Pacifica construction site.

Call it Panamania. Is it a bubble in the making, or the rise of a new Miami? Despite the abundance of cranes around Panama City, only about 10 percent of the projects being sold are under construction, says McBride. "We're not even seeing the construction boom in Panama yet," he says. "This place will look like Manhattan if all these projects come to fruition."

Certainly the decision to spend $5.2 billion to double the width of the Panama Canal, the country's biggest source of revenue, is a sign of Panama's prosperity. The addition of a new lane and a new set of locks will allow post-Panamax container ships, the world's largest, to pass through the canal. "The expansion of the canal has woken up the curiosity of a lot of people," says Saul Faskha, the local developer of the Ice Tower and one of Panama's biggest boosters.

7 Up-and-coming destinations

Panama's economy has been growing at breakneck speed - 8.1 percent last year, compared with 6.4 percent in 2005 - and the government finished the year with a surplus of $576 million. Exports from Panama's free-trade zone, the second largest in the world after Hong Kong's, have helped fuel the growth. The U.S. Congress is expected to sign a free-trade agreement with Panama sometime this year, which should boost exports even further. And several multinational corporations have moved or are moving their Latin American headquarters to Panama City, including Caterpillar, Sanofi-Aventis and Samsung.

Consumer spending has also swelled, the banking sector is strong, and 40,000 new jobs were created last year. All that is good news for the government of Martín Torrijos, son of former strongman Omar Torrijos, who ruled Panama from 1968 to 1981.

Unlike his father, the younger Torrijos came to power in a fair election in 2004. And unlike his father, Torrijos doesn't have to deal with a U.S.-occupied Canal Zone: Panama took control of the canal in 1999 and has proved adept at running it. Gone, too, are the U.S. troops that toppled another dictator, Manuel Noriega, a corrupt former general who is nearing the end of a 17-year U.S. prison term for cocaine trafficking.

Rumors that Noriega might want to return to Panama have cast a cloud over an otherwise bright mood. But the country, 36 percent of whose population lives in poverty, has other problems to deal with. For one thing, says Torrijos, during a recent trip to a small mountain town, "there is a huge demand now for a skilled workforce."

Indeed, a labor shortage has already helped slow construction activity in Panama City, and developers are concerned that other factors may hinder the completion of projects. Materials and equipment are in high demand, from rebar to cement to earthmovers. The construction frenzy has also put a strain on the city's infrastructure, and the government is struggling to build enough roads, water-treatment facilities and other projects.

One big problem: All of Panama City's sewage is dumped into the bay, and a treatment plant won't be completed until 2009. "Panama has grown very, very fast - we didn't anticipate this," says Ubaldino Real, Minister of the Presidency. "The government has had to take out more money to be able to act much faster to build roads."

But that hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of people like José Manuel Bern, director of sales and projects for Empresas Bern, one of Panama City's oldest and largest developers. The company's Bayfront Tower, completed in April, is among the first buildings designed for foreigners - distinct from those built for locals because they have balconies but no maid's rooms. Bern says that he sold nearly all the apartments in the tower four years ago, and that units that originally went for $130,000 now sell for $330,000. "We used to be very focused on the local market," he says, "but now I sell to a foreigner every other day."

Prima Panama's McBride and others are worried that the building boom is ultimately going to exceed demand. "I do not think there will be sufficient buyers to absorb capacity, if in fact capacity is delivered," McBride says. "When you see prices going up, driven by speculative investors, that points to a bubble."

Try telling that to Adolfo Olloqui, a Spanish developer whose company, Grupo Olloqui, is building what will be one of the tallest luxury towers in downtown Panama City, the 77-story Palacio de la Bahia. "Panama is the Miami of the future," he says. "With the visa problems in the U.S., South Americans, Central Americans and North Americans will want to come here to do business and to live."

Or try telling it to the Buckleys, who at least have a splendid view from their new Panama perch.

Pictures and more in http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/09/100122336/index.htm

High U.S. Government Officials to attend ExpoTrans in Panama

A delegation of high officials of the U.s. Government, lead by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters, will travel to Panama on May 7-9 to attend ExpoTrans 2007, a transportation conference organized by the U.S-Panama Business Council

The conference will take place at the Miramar Intercontinental Hotel and will address topics related to maritime, aviation, land transportation and logistics. During the luncheon of May 7 the Council will present its “Friendship Awards” to Panama Canal Administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta and on Tuesday evening, during its traditional “Friendship Awards Dinner”, will recognize the prestigious companies Copa Airlines and Panama Ports Company.

For additional information contact Enrique Sosa, Executive Director of USPA, at 269-2178, uspa @ cableonda.net