U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs David Malpass led a U.S. delegation to the Republic of Panama to sign a memorandum of understanding with its government that will foster U.S.-Panama cooperation on energy and infrastructure investment.
“This framework will expand energy security and spur economic growth for both nations. It will help catalyze private-sector capital for investments across the energy value chain, including upstream energy production, as well as power generation, transmission and distribution,” said Malpass. “It is a great step forward for the United States and Panama.”
This marks the formal inauguration of the U.S. initiative called America Crece, or the Americas Grow.
Under the memorandum, the two countries will cooperate to:
- Further diversify Panama’s sources of energy to power the country’s economic growth;
- Broaden Panama’s role as a liquefied natural gas hub for Central America and the Caribbean;
- Integrate natural gas as a source of downstream energy, furthering Panama’s environmental goals and making Panama’s economy more competitive;
- Accelerate Panama’s adoption of innovative power technologies, including renewables and related micro‑, mini-grid and battery storage systems, that will help achieve energy source integration and catalyze investment in rural areas and at critical infrastructure facilities, thereby increasing Panama’s energy resiliency;
- Increase access to the electricity grid;
- Bring electricity to underserved populations in rural areas; and
- Enhance the reliability, resilience and efficiency of the national energy systems.
The announcement was released on Aug. 17.
