Panama donates EC$135,000 to Hurricane Irma recovery

The government of Panama has made a new donation of around EC$135,000 to the government of Antigua and Barbuda as budgetary support to assist with the recovery after Hurricane Irma struck last year.

The sum of US$50,000 was presented in Washington DC to Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador in the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders, by Panama’s Ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda, Jesus Sierra Victoria.

Sierra Victoria noted that it represented the second of two payments totalling EC$270,000 that Panama had made to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda “in a spirit of friendship and solidarity”.

The first payment of US$135,000 was handed to Prime Minister Gaston Browne last December.

Responding to the gift from the Government of Panama, Sanders recalled the long relationship between Panama and Antigua and Barbuda beginning with the many nationals of Antigua and Barbuda who worked on digging the Panama Canal, now the world’s busiest and most lucrative trade conduit, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

He thanked the government of Panama for “acting on the recognition that coping with the effects of Hurricane Irma had placed unanticipated burdens on the Antigua and Barbuda Treasury”.

The two ambassadors noted that co-operation between the two nations has steadily grown, particularly in areas of mutual international interest such as threats to financial services and climate change.

They added that they looked forward to the broadening of these relations to include facilitating shipping and trade in the Caribbean.