President and First Lady head for Amman, Rome

WITH Panama’s Assembly and the Government  administration facing what has been described as a constitutional crisis President Juan Carlos Varela, and the First Lady, recently back from a week-long trip to Dubai, are now en-route  to Amman, Jordan, at the invitation of King Abdullah II

Varela  is facing increasing criticism from civil society and legal bodies  over  perceived stalling in the selection of  new Supreme Court  judges

A government hand out says that the Panamanian president will hold a meeting with the king, in which  they will seek to strengthen the role of their countries as promoters of the dialogue for the resolution of conflicts

“They will discuss ways to promote greater rapprochement in security, humanitarian, migratory and security issues  and the fight against terrorism.

“ President Varela will visit the Zaatari Refugee Camp, the second largest In the world that hosts about 80,000 thousand refugees. He will also participate, together with the first lady, Lorena Castillo de Varela, at the Summit of Laureates and Leaders for Children 2018, where winners of the Nobel Laureate, world leaders and young people from all over the world will agree on a document that will establish an action plan to address the challenges  faced by children affected by migration and child labor.

“The visit to Jordan is aligned with the recent launch of President Varela’s ‘closer to the Middle East’ , policy,” the statement said.

It concludes “At the end of the agenda in Jordan, the presidential couple will travel to Rome, where they have been invited to participate in the Univ 2018 Forum, in which close to 1000  people from countries around the world  meet  to dialogue and confront, in a constructive way, some issues of importance I to world youth and society today.”

ThePresident returns to Panama on Saturday, March 31.

Earlier in his administration, Varela had said that Panama’s doors were opn to Syrian refugees