The first round of negotiations for the Commercial Agreement between Panama and China was completed and focused on homologation and agreement on the basic terms, definitions and concepts.
Alberto Alemán Arias, Leader Negotiator of Panama, complying with the transparency commitment of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI), has informed on daily bases the representatives of the private sector on the development of the following tables:
Legal Matters: the teams began the review of general terms, of the objectives of the agreement and of the geographical application among others.
Services: definitions of intellectual property law and access to market were reviewed.
Customshouse Procedures and Trade Facilitation: the parties agreed to submit proposals before the second round of negotiations, which include the identification of sensitive sectors, the strengthening of commercial capacities, the protection of restricted professions for Panamanian citizens.
Electronic Commerce: the teams identified similarities in the definitions of each one and both delegations agreed on the possibility of working together in future for the validation of the electronic signature.
Trading of Goods: the proxies and methods in terms of market access were reviewed.
The Second Round of Negotiations will be in China on 20th August 2018.
