Barbados, Panama sign air services agreement

Minister of International Business and International Transport George Hutson said it would go a long way towards cementing the historical ties of family and friendship between Panamanians and Barbadians.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Friday July 8, 2011 – Barbados and Panama have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Air Services that provides the framework for airlines from both countries to operate flights between the two states.

The signing followed two days of negotiations on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Minister of International Business and International Transport George Hutson said the successful outcome of the Air Service Negotiations will “expand international air services opportunities and facilitate increased opportunities for tourism, trade and commercial activity between our two countries in particular, as well as the wider central and South America.”

He said it would also go a long way towards cementing the historical ties of family and friendship between Panamanians and Barbadians.

The signing came just over a year after the two countries reached a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA). That tax agreement is expected to enhance trade and investment and also provide new scope for the movement of professors, teachers, artisans and sportspersons between the two countries. The signing of the MOU on air services culminates talks on both these areas.
           
Barbados and Panama are both members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), having ratified the Convention on International Civil Aviation, 1944. It is on the basis of that Convention that Member States of the ICAO established air services agreements either on a bilateral or a multilateral basis. 

Such agreements are a prelude to the establishment of air services between and beyond the territories of the states involved.

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