'Panama Canal working optimally'

'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