Panama Offers $30 Billion in Megaprojects to Apple: Google: Pfizer: Amazon: Exxon Mobil
President José Raúl Mulino presented a public investment plan worth more than $30 billion to the Council of the Americas in New York.
This New York story is worth repeating. On the eve of shoulder surgery, a meeting with the United Nations (UN), and a country desperate for jobs, President José Raúl Mulino announced that multinationals such as Apple, Google, Pfizer, ExxonMobil, and Amazon are among those exploring investment opportunities in the country, after the president presented a project portfolio worth more than $30 billion to attract foreign capital. The Panama forum at the Council of the Americas (COA), led by President José Raúl Mulino, was the event that motivated the meeting between Panamanian authorities and the group of multinationals.
According to the Presidency of the Republic, the meeting sold out all 54 available places and created a waiting list, bringing together representatives from world-class companies such as Amazon Web Services, Apple Inc., Chiquita Brands International, Citibank, ExxonMobil, Google, Intercorp, Pfizer, Santander, AES Corporation, Visa, Warner Bros, Zipline, Apollo Global, Amos Global Energy Group, and A&O Shearman, among others. Although no investment was immediately announced, the participation was interpreted as a sign of appetite to explore opportunities in the country.
Companies like Chiquita and AES already have a presence in the country, so their participation could have two interpretations: it could be interpreted as both a sign of future expansion and a political calculation to cultivate direct access to the Mulino administration’s strategic decisions. “The time to invest in Panama is now. I invite you to be part of this new chapter of growth and stability,” Mulino stated during his presentation, in which he emphasized that Panama is “the safest investment destination on the continent.”
The president presented a strategic government plan with more than $30 billion in public investments, which includes projects such as the Panama–David train, the electrical interconnection with Colombia, Metro Line 3, the tunnel under the Canal, and the Río Indio multipurpose reservoir , key to ensuring water and ship transit for 50 years in the Panama Canal. Mulino emphasized that the dollarized economy and a pro-investment legal framework are pillars that have allowed Panama to maintain its attractiveness. In 2024, according to official figures, 12 companies were established under the Multinational Company Headquarters regime, bringing the total to 186. COA President Susan Segal and its board chairman Andrés Gluski praised the country’s economic progress and Mulino’s approach.
“Panama is a reliable partner,” the president reiterated, accompanied by First Lady Maricel Cohen de Mulino and ministers from the economic and trade portfolios. President Mulino was accompanied by Ministers Julio Moltó (Commerce), Felipe Chapman (Economy), José Ramón Icaza (Canal) and Adolfo Fábrega, administrator of the Government Innovation Authority.
