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The Istana
Speeches

Speech by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the State Banquet in Honour of President of The Republic of Panama José Raúl Mulino Quintero on Monday, 5 October 2026 at Conrad Singapore Marina Bay

5 October 2026

Your Excellency President José Raúl Mulino Quintero

First Lady Maricel Cohen de Mulino

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

  1. Let me begin by extending a very warm welcome to President Mulino and First Lady Maricel Cohen de Mulino, and to all our friends from Panama.

  2. Your visit marks a new chapter in the friendship between our two countries. Since establishing diplomatic relations 44 years ago, bilateral ties have grown steadily, underpinned by our shared destinies and outlook as maritime nations.

  3. Singapore and Panama sit at the strategic crossroads of global trade. We also serve as critical junctions on the great maritime highway between Asia and the Americas.

Trade and Economy

  1. Our shared history as maritime bridges indeed make us natural partners. Free and open trade is our lifeblood. There is likewise considerable scope to deepen our cooperation.

    1. The Panama-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA), signed in March 2006, was Singapore’s first bilateral FTA with a Latin American country.

    2. Singapore companies have since come to view Panama as an important gateway to the broader Latin American and Caribbean market

    3. PSA International’s container terminal accounts for about a fifth of all container traffic in Panama.  

    4. CrimsonLogic, a Singapore-based global technology company, has operated in Panama for some three decades, with Panama City serving as its Latin America headquarters.

    5. Esco Lifesciences Group – a world-leading manufacturer of laboratory, pharmaceutical equipment, and IVF medical devices – operates a regional distribution hub in Panama.

  2. Conversely, Singapore can serve as a gateway for Panamanian companies to access Southeast Asia. They will surely find opportunity in ASEAN’s markets which, collectively, will likely become the fourth-largest economy in the world this year.

  3. Earlier today, SATS Limited and Tocumen International Airport exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which will explore strategic collaboration opportunities to strengthen air cargo connectivity and support the development of Panama as a leading logistics gateway for the Americas.

International Law

  1. Singapore and Panama are also founding members of the Future of Investment and Trade Partnership, or FITP, reflecting our shared commitment to an open, fair, and rules-based global trading environment.

  2. Amidst trade disruptions and an unpredictable global landscape, small States must work together to strengthen the institutions that uphold international law. It goes without saying that Singapore and Panama share a deep interest in upholding freedom of navigation and international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

  3. This is why Singapore has announced its decision to accede to the Protocol to the Treaty concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal. Singapore’s accession signals our commitment to maritime safety and security, and to upholding freedom of navigation through one of the world’s most important maritime arteries.

Legal Cooperation

Your Excellencies,

  1. We also share the determination to counter the dark side of connectivity. We know the same networks that facilitate legitimate flows of goods, people, and data also expose us to crime and transnational threats.

  2. We are hence committed to robust legal frameworks to combat crime, and in so doing, to support sustained development

  3. It is in this spirit that Singapore and Panama have agreed to commence negotiations on a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, so as to strengthen information-sharing and legal cooperation between our countries.

Conclusion

  1. In concluding, I would like to turn to the words of Ricardo Miró, Panama’s national poet. His celebrated poem “Patria”, on the land he calls ‘such a small country, spread on an isthmus’, ends with an evocative thought: perhaps Panama was made so small ‘to ensure he would carry it everywhere in his heart’.

  2. One can only imagine what Miro might have made of Singapore, merely a hundredth the size of Panama!  But what Miró reminds us of, is that a country is measured not by its size on a map, but by the place it holds in people’s hearts.

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

  1. May I now invite you to rise and join me in a toast:

    1. To the good health and success of His Excellency José Raúl Mulino Quintero and First Lady Maricel Cohen de Mulino;

    2. To the continued peace and prosperity of the Republic of Panama and its people; and

    3. To the enduring friendship between Singapore and Panama, and ever-stronger ties between Latin America and Southeast Asia

Salud!