When he opened, with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chavez, the comprehensive border control center in the city of Paso Canoas, Cortizo stressed that this site is a sign of his country’s commitment to the comprehensive program and customs logistics services while renewing operations on the common border.
He stressed that modernizing border operations and financial oversight would allow for greater efficiency in trade exchange and promote job development for the benefit of both countries.
Cortizo considered it necessary to further strengthen joint action in order to promote a safe, regular, orderly and humane migration policy.
In his speech, he also thanked President Chavez for his visit last October to Darien Jungle, where they watched together the monitoring of the migration flow carried out by Panama on the border with Colombia.
Regarding this event, he thanked Costa Rica for its support of the trilateral dialogue between Panama, Colombia and the United States to confront the massive flow of irregular migration affecting our countries.
For his part, the Costa Rican President stressed the necessity of united action among sister countries. Dialogue, diplomacy and trade are stronger than weapons and force. He stressed that the wealth that our people need does not come alone or by isolating ourselves.
The Paso Canoa Integrated Control Center (CCI) represents a $33 million investment from a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The innovative coordinated border management model supports cross-border cooperation to increase efficiency and reduce time and costs in passenger flow and foreign trade operations.
The Costa Rican and Panamanian authorities will carry out their monitoring operations in the same facilities, with one stop for passengers and carriers, increasing efficiency and reducing wait times by 50 percent.
This law comes within the framework of implementing the framework agreement signed between the two countries to facilitate trade, and it is of great importance in providing the best conditions so that officials and users enjoy a high-level infrastructure to carry out their procedures and tasks.
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