Why invest in Panama?

Panama´s geographical position, located in the center of the American Continent, has great connectivity through land, sea and air.  An open service economy, economic political and social stability, a dollarized economy, an international financial center, and a world class logistics platform make Panama the ideal site for doing business in the region.

Panama. Regional Business Hub

Panama possesses a privileged geographical location, that has allowed it to become one of the most important logistic centers of the Western Hemisphere for the storing and distribution of world cargo. The country has a bridge for the mobilization of passengers to the entire American Continent and facilitates efficient and modern communication services. With a service vocation and as a commerce promoter, both nationally and internationally, Panama enjoys political, social and economic stability.
Panama has gone from being just a canal to becoming a logistic platform by air, sea and land, with the growth of the Panama Canal as a main axis, transporting over 300 million of CPSUAB (Container, Bulk, etc.).  The Canal presently serves  more than 14,000 ships through 144 maritime routes and complements a system of container terminals in the Pacific and the Caribbean, that serve as cargo transship and redistribution. The terminals record an annual movement of containerized cargo of 4.25 million TEU’s, in addition to the inter-oceanic railroad that has a capacity 330,000 containers per year from one coast to another.  Panama also has the Colón Free Zone, the most important one in the Western hemisphere, with an annual trade exchange of over 19 thousand million dollars through its approximately 3,000 companies established in the Colón Free Zone. The development of the Panamá Pacífico Special Economic Area, in the former Howard Air Station, will serve as a space for the production of goods and high technology services.
We offer an efficient air service through the Tocumen International Airport, presently undergoing a remodeling process to offer a comfortable and safe atmosphere to all travelers that visit our country and an expeditious and efficient attention to the transiting passengers, who do not have to go through customs or migration checks. From the airport, the Copa Airline operates its Hub the Americas, which offers more than 46 destinations to 25 countries in America and excellent connections, some of them with three daily flights to the most important cities of Latin America. In addition we have an excellent internal offer of direct flights to the principal cities of the interior of the country.
Panama has become the preferred center for the installation of five submarine optical fiber cables, turning into the ideal place for telecommunication companies and data centers since it has the advantage of offering great connectivity with North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean; advantages that companies such as MCI, Cable & Wireless and Movistar, have learned to use effectively, by providing cellular telephony services and first quality internet to the international market.
Our prestigious International banking Center, with over 93 internationally renowned banks, reflected over US$65 billion in assets for the first quarter of 2010.
Our medical and health services are well known internationally and include two of the best private hospitals of the Central American region; equipped with the most recent medical technology, and are affiliated with world famous hospitals such as the Baptist Hospital in Miami, Florida and the Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland.
Our tropical climate and various tourism offers set us among those preferred for the travelers that can find in our country picturesque indigenous and colonial communities, white sand beaches and coral reefs with indescribable beauty, mountains with fresh climates and tropical jungles with an exuberant vegetation, habitat of innumerable flora and fauna species. And with our excellent highway network and short distances the country can be toured in only six hours.
For these reasons, Panama has been chosen by important multinational companies such as Samsung Electronics, Inc., DHL, DELL, Hutchinson Port Holding Group, HSBC, BICSA, SCOTIABANK, Assicurazioni Generali, American Life Insurance Company and many more, as main offices for their regional operations. In addition, some of the most recognized International Organisms such as UNICEF, UNDP, OAS, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI, initials in Spanish), and the BLADEX [Latin American Export Bank] among others, have chosen Panama for establishing their operations.
Panama offers goods and services at reasonable prices as compared to its nearest neighbours, with Free Trade Treaties (TLC, for initials in Spanish) with Taiwan, El Salvador, Singapore and Chile. Furthermore, we are going through the final negotiations of a TLC with the United States and Central America and we are preparing our entrance in the G-3.