AJC Leadership Delegation Concludes Visit To Panama

PANAMA CITY, July 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An AJC leadership delegation has concluded a two-day visit to Panama.

The trip was highlighted by a 90-minute private meeting with Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela. During the discussion, President Varela, who assumed his current post on July 1, expressed his strong support for Israel's right to defend itself in the current conflict with Hamas. The President also expressed his hopes that bilateral relations with Israel will continue to strengthen over his five-year term, adding that he felt optimistic about Panama's future as a global crossroads for trade and commerce.

The AJC delegation also met with Minister of Interior and Justice Milton Henriquez, Mayor of Panama City José Isabel Blandón, and the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors to Panama.

"We visited Panama to express our appreciation for Panama's long history of support for Israel, and to express our hope that the strong bilateral relationship will continue well into the future," said AJC Executive Director David Harris, who first visited Panama in 1989, immediately after the U.S. invasion. "We also continued to emphasize the importance of vibrant U.S.-Panamanian relations," Harris added.

The AJC delegation also included the Chair, Tom Kahn, and Director, Dina Siegel Vann, of AJC's Latino and Latin American Institute, leaders of the Jewish communities in El Salvador and Costa Rica, and AJC lay leaders from New York and Houston. Several prominent members of the Jewish Community of Panama accompanied the group.

"For 25 years, AJC has been the most persistently supportive global Jewish organization of our community," said Isaac Btesh, President of the Central Committee of the Hebrew Community of Panama.

AJC formalized ties with the Central Committee when an association agreement was signed during a solidarity mission in 2010. At that time, 20 senior AJC leaders traveled to Panama.

AJC has long maintained relations with Panamanian diplomats in the U.S. and Europe, and through regular consultations among Latin American Jewish communities organized by AJC's Latino and Latin American Institute.

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SOURCE American Jewish Committee