“We hope that during the talks between the leaders of Panama and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, on issues related to the control of the Panama Canal, the current international legal regime of this key transport route will be respected,” said the director of the Latin American Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Aleksandr Schetinin.
The diplomat recalled that the legal status of the Panama institution was clearly defined and set in the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal between the United States of America and the Republic of Panama. “The document was signed on September 7, 1977, by US President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian Prime Minister General Omar Torrijos, and entered into force on October 1st, 1979,” he stressed.
Schetinin said that Russia advocates keeping the artery safe and open and reaffirms Moscow’s commitment to respect the neutrality of this international waterway. “The regime established by the treaty is also enshrined in the protocol to the treaty, to which some 40 countries of the world have adhered. Russia has been a party to the protocol since 1988 and reaffirms its commitment to respect the permanent neutrality of the Panama Canal,” the official said.
“We also emphasize that according to the amendments adopted by Washington and Panama in October 1977, each of the two countries must protect the canal from any threat to the neutrality regime. The US right to defend the canal does not mean and should not be interpreted as permission to intervene in the internal affairs of Panama,” the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry concluded.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump reiterated his intention to “recover” the Panama Canal, arguing that returning control of the waterway to Panama was “a foolish gift that should never have been made.”
The Panama Canal was put into service in 1914 after being built by the United States. In 1977 the Torrijos-Carter treaty defined the gradual transfer of the canal to Panama, finalized in 1999. The agreement established the neutrality of the route and its accessibility to world trade.
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