'Panama Canal working optimally'

JAKARTA: After five years under the full control of the Panamanian government, the Panama Canal -- one of the most important sea passages in the world -- is functioning optimally, the Panamanian Embassy in Jakarta said.

"When the U.S. gave Panama control over the canal in 1999, many people including the media thought that the Panamanians would destroy it. This assumption turned out be wrong," Panama's new ambassador to Indonesia, Raul Antonia Eskildsen Arias, told The Jakarta Post.

Ambassador Arias said the Panama Canal accounted for 20 percent of the Panamanian economy.

While the number of ships passing through the canal has fallen due to the slowdown in the global economy following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., Panama -- a country of 3.2 million people -- has been able to reduce the number of ship accidents and improve the canal's infrastructure, Arias said.

The Panama Canal, which cuts thousands of miles off the voyage for ships sailing between the eastern U.S. across the Pacific region, was opened in 1914. -- JP