With a View to Opening a Physical Embassy, Panama Appoints a New Ambassador to Guyana.
The Foreign Ministry formalizes the appointment of Ernesto Méndez Chiari pictured below left, to lead the diplomatic mission as Ambassador to Guyana. Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez is pictured below right.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it has officially appointed Ernesto Méndez Chiari as the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, where Panama hopes to open a physical embassy. The inauguration ceremony was led by Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez, seeking to reshape Panamanian foreign policy towards the Caribbean region.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry indicated that Méndez Chiari has academic training with master’s degrees from Yale University and IE Business School, and will be the one to assume the leadership of the diplomatic mission in Georgetown. President José Raúl Mulino had already announced, after the visit to the country by the Guyanese president, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, that Panama would physically open its Embassy in Guyana during the course of this year. Although the opening date of the diplomatic headquarters was not specified, the president explained that it will be a step that will strengthen Panama’s presence in the Caribbean and mark a new chapter in bilateral relations.
The Embassy Headquarters are Already Being Arranged.
Panama has already requested Guyana’s approval for the opening of the diplomatic mission and the appointment of the ambassador who will head said mission. According to the diplomatic process, the Panamanian embassy headquarters has already been arranged and should be opened as soon as the new ambassador arrives in Georgetown, approximately in a month. Méndez Chiari’s priority agenda will focus on institutional coordination, security cooperation, and the dynamism of trade.
Panama seeks to strengthen the country’s presence within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and open new markets in one of the fastest-growing economies on the continent. According to reports obtained, Méndez Chiari will also represent Panama at CARICOM, and the various concurrences of the Lesser Antilles islands, Antiguo and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Suriname, will be managed from Georgetown. The aim is to solidify its position as a regional hub for the Caribbean.
