Panama studies Costa Rica train with help of China

Panama will study the feasibility of building a passenger train to Costa Rica with the help of China.

The project would require an initial investment of $5 billion, Panama’s President explained to Reuters in an interview. He spoke to the investment during the Americas Business Summit in Lima, as a sign of the Asian country’s “growing interest in Latin America”. 

“We are doing a feasibility study with China to study of a 450-kilometer train between Panama and the border of Costa Rica,” Varela said during the Summit of the Americas in Lima on Friday.

Varela also spoke an anticipated $6 billion copper mine which is currently under construction by Australia’s First Quantum Minerals. the mine will start producing next year, adding 2.5 percent to Panama’s GDP. 

In regards to the U.S.-China trade dispute, Varela said if any country wanted to renegotiate trade agreements, it should do so without generating conflict. Panama welcomed investment from all countries, he said.