[NYTr] Carter, Torrijos at Panama Canal

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Carter, Torrijos at Panama Canal 

Panama, Sep 3 (Prensa Latina) Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and
former US President Jimmy Carter lead Monday the starting ceremony for
the modernization of the inter-oceanic canal zone.

Carter negotiated and signed on September 7, 1977 with Omar Torrijos,
father of the current president, a group of accords to recover national
sovereignty on the then denominated Panama Canal Zone and seaway.

This amazing work began in 1903 and opened in 1914, one of the most
important trade routes of the planet, but it has also been a central
theme of conflicts between Panama and the United States.

In virtue of the Torrijos-Carter agreements, the Panama Canal Zone
passed to control of the Panamanians on the last day of 1999.

The expansion of ships made too small the ingenious complexes of locks
that allow two-way passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. 

The three new complexes of locks, which will make possible the movement
of long and wider ships, will be built by Panama at $5.2 billion.

El Salvador's President Elias Antonio Saca, Colombia's Alvaro Uribe and
Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega are due to attend the meeting.

According to official estimates, it is expected that some 40,000 people
attend the ground breaking, as a homage to several generations of
Panamanians who contributed to rescuing national sovereignty.

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