FCC was one of the leading participants in the first-ever Panama-European Union Forum, which went by the motto “Panama, Canal for Access to the Americas”. The transoceanic gathering was organized by Euroamérica and held in the opening week of this month in Panama City. Its objectives: to provide a platform where participants can talk, cooperate and share their experience with each other, to strengthen relations between Panama and the EU.

Avelino Acero, corporate manager of the Construction branch of FCC, participated on the group’s behalf. In his speech he talked about how the Citizen Services Group has been doing business in Panama since in 1996. “We’re global, but local too”, said the FCC executive. As the Group’s main achievements in Panama, Acero named the construction of line 1 of the Panama Metro system, which will be the region’s first suburban railway, and the Ciudad Hospitalaria medical complex in Panama.

The corporate manager for FCC Construcción also spoke of the construction of Hospital Luis Chicho Fábrega and the Panama Canal’s new Pacific approach channel. The project to build the approach road to the coast and the east side of the Mina de Cobre project was recently awarded as well. Altogether, FCC has a backlog of over 2,000 million euros’ worth of work to do in Panama.

Spain’s infrastructure situation and how Spanish companies have made themselves globally competitive were two other subjects Acero addressed.

He also discussed the importance of making the construction industry more dynamic, since it is an economic and strategic source of strength for any nation.

Also present with Acero were Minister of Development Ana Pastor of Spain; Minister of Public Works Jaime Ford of Panama; Roberto Roy, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal Authority and minister for Canal Affairs; Olmedo Alfaro, administrator of the Panamá Pacífico Agency; Ilya Marotta, executive vice chairman for Engineering and Programme Administration at the Panama Canal; and Antonio Juan Sosa, corporate vice chairman for Infrastructure at CAF, Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina. The proceedings were moderated by Ana Irene Delgado, ambassador for Panama in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

The president of the Euroamérica Foundation, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, gave the closing address. She said that Panama is the EU’s main trading partner in Central America and is expected to be the main beneficiary of the new association agreement between the EU and Central America, which is scheduled to go into force shortly.