Panama launches campaign to attract US investors

WASHINGTON – Today the Republic of Panama is launching a new advertising campaign designed to highlight the country as an attractive investment destination for U.S. investors by contrasting continued instability in international markets with Panama’s stable, growing and highly competitive economy. The first phase of the “Panama: Where The World Meets” campaign is being launched with full page ads in the Wall Street Journal, Politico and Roll Call newspapers and across a spectrum of online news sites promoting the country’s upgrade to an Investment Grade rating this year.

“Panama’s dollar economy, our infrastructure, our simplified tax structure and of course our location make us a great and attractive place for new investments and global economic development,” said Ricardo Martinelli, president of the Republic of Panama, in an introductory message on the campaign’s website, www.meetpanama.com.pa.

Panama was rated as the 2nd most competitive economy in Latin America by the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011. It’s expected to almost double its GDP between 2009 and 2010 and the International Monetary Fund projects that Panama will have the fastest growing economy in Latin America by 2015.

During his first year in office, President Martinelli led a major tax reform effort that simplified structures and cut corporate rates and began implementing a 5-year, $13.6 billion infrastructure investment plan that will significantly modernize and diversify Panama’s strong logistics capabilities. The combination of those factors led to an upgrade in Panama’s sovereign debt rating to Investment Grade.

The first phase of the “Panama: Where the World Meets” campaign will run through the first quarter of 2011 with placement in a broad range of financial media outlets throughout the U.S.