By Kim Se-jeong
Panama’s Ambassador to Seoul, Aram B. Cisneros has witnessed the extent of Korea’s economic achievements and how thet have affected people’s lives.
In Seoul, newly constructed buildings are frequently filled with shops. The streets are packed with people carrying shopping bags and it’s a boom time for coffee shops that can be found on every other street corner.
This convinced Cisneros to begin an ambitious project: Selling Panama’s high-end coffee called Geisha to Korea.
Grown in Boquete, northern Panama close to the Costa Rican border, Geisha coffee beans were recently awarded the “Best of Panama 2012.” According to its website, importers in Holland, Germany, Spain, the United States, Italy, Australia, Belgium Canada, England and Japan, are scrambling for orders.
“We do not compete with big coffee producing countries,” the ambassador made it clear. Why? It’s just too expensive.
But, he believes consumers in Korea have become sophisticated in their tastes, and “there should be a market for people who can pay $8 for a cup of coffee.”
Whether skyrocketing coffee consumption means coffee drinkers are willing to pay $8 per for a cup of coffee is an open question. But there is little doubt that Koreans love a daily dose of caffeine.
According to statistics from the Korea International Trade Association, the volume of coffee beans imported over the past nine years has increased by nearly 800 percent. In 2003, $78 million worth of coffee beans entered the Korean market. In 2011 the figure stood at $618 million.
Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam ranked top as the biggest exporting countries. Peru and Honduras followed suit.
The embassy is preparing for a coffee tasting event in September.
Agriculture used to be a strong economic force in Panama, but it declined after the construction of the Panama Canal, completed in 1914 by the United States, to a design by the French architect who developed the Suez Canal in Egypt. Farming regions fell under the influence of industrialization, and mechanized industries became the economic focus. The economy of Panama is now mostly driven by its services sector, Panama Canal-related services, to be specific.
In 1974, then President of the United States Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos, leader of Panama, signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties which granted Panamanians free control of the waterway. The treaty came into effect in 1999.
An array of expansion projects has attracted construction companies from all over the world, including Korea. Cisneros crossed his fingers for one Korean company which is competing in a bid to build a new bridge over the canal.
“I’d like the Korean company to win the bid,” he said frankly. “We would call it the Korea-Panama Friendship Bridge.”
Additionally, Panama City, the capital, will soon launch an open bid for the construction of second subway line. The first line is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by 2014.
Panama and Korea have had half a century of diplomatic relations.
The government under the direction of military leader Park Chung-hee opened diplomatic relations with Panama and 14 other countries in 1962 in an effort to explore export markets in Latin America.
In 2010, the presidents of the two countries met twice in six months. First was a visit by President Lee Myung-bak in June to Panama during which he had a summit with representatives of the Central American Integration System. In September that year, President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli visited Korea.
In the hope of selling the services sector and attracting investors from Korea, Panama is pushing to launch free trade negotiations with officials here. However, acknowledging Korea’s hitherto indifference, the ambassador advocated his country’s geological importance.
“Korea can use Panama and Central America as a tool to put a business foot in the region,” Cisneros said with emphasis.
The second half of 2012 will feature a variety of events celebrating the 50th anniversary. The coffee tasting event at the embassy will be followed by a jazz performance from a prominent Panamanian musician, an art exhibition and an investment conference in December.
The embassy is proud to prsent Danilo Perez, a famous jazz pianist. His first album, released in 1994 made it into the top 10 jazz lists of New York’s Village Voice, the New York Times, Billboard Magazine and the Boston Globe.
His fourth album in 1998 earned him a Grammy nomination for best jazz album of the year. He will perform twice in September.