Panama and Columbia to work together

Panama will work with Colombian president, Iván Duque , to seek a "prompt solution" to the commercial and fiscal conflicts between both nations.

President Juan Carlos Varela said yesterday that they  also vowed to fight  against drug trafficking, involving Costa Rica and United States,

In his Twitter account, he said that "our foreign ministers will coordinate a working meeting between trade and finance ministers, with the aim of finding short-term solutions to pending issues in trade and tax matters . " In another tweet he indicated that bilaterally they will boost tourism to attract tourists from Europe and China.

The challenge

The lawyer Iván Duque took on Tuesday as president of Colombia with the promise of uniting a country divided by the peace agreement with the demobilized guerrilla of the FARC .

The right-wing politician, who replaced Nobel Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos , faces the challenges of adjusting the agreement with the demobilized FARC guerrilla, combating drug trafficking, violence, corruption and reducing social gaps by improving education coverage and health.

"I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values ​​and principles, overcoming the divisions of left and right (...) I want to govern Colombia with the spirit of building, never of destroying," said Duque after swearing and receiving the presidential sash.

Colombia faces the challenges of an economy that remains weak, a new wave of criminal gangs is dedicated to drug trafficking and illegal mining occupying territories evicted by the FARC and to shelter more than 870,000 Venezuelan immigrants who have come in search of food and job.

Duque, ex-senator of the Democratic Center party, wants to make adjustments to a peace agreement with the demobilized guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to prevent drug trafficking from being an amnesty and force the former rebel commanders to respond to justice before occupying political positions.

"We will deploy corrective measures to assure the victims truth, proportional justice, reparation and not repetition. We will also correct structural failures that have become evident in the implementation, "Duque said before 10 Latin American presidents invited at an event in the Plaza de Bolívar in Bogotá, amid strong security measures.

But Duque, who worked at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington before Uribe asked him to return to Colombia in 2014 to become a senator, has shown independence in shaping his team of ministers and moderated his speech on the peace agreement. . The president reiterated that he will seek "non aggressive solutions".