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by Eric Jackson
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by Eric Jackson
Coming into ATLAPA early in the afternoon of March 6 to catch EXPOCOMER's opening day, the taxi in which my colleague and I were riding was delayed behind a swarm of presidential guards. The presidents of Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica were joining Mireya Moscoso for the opening ceremonies (and incidentally, to talk free trade), and thus the multiple motorcades, each with full security. There was a huge line at the exhibitors' entrance, with cops inspecting identification and everything that people were bringing in. Over at the press entrance however, I walked in unchecked with a bag that could have concealed a bomb or a machine gun, and proceeded past the salon where the dignitaries were gathering to await the ribbon cutting.
Most reporters were there to catch the presidents' ceremonial small talk and maybe get a brief interview. For The Panama News, however, the show was the main story --- whatever the politicians might say or do about it, the economy is mainly moved by forces beyond their control. The numbers and provenances of exhibitors, and what they had to offer, would reveal more about the business climate than the dignitaries on the dais.
It turned out that this year's trade fair, the 20th anniversary event, had significantly fewer exhibitors than were on hand in any of the five previous years. Many countries that previously had pavilions were represented by one or two individual businesses this time. It seemed that the biggest declines in comparison with the immediate past were in heavy industrial and high tech displays, which would reflect a worldwide drop in capital investment and a burst dot-com bubble.
Brazil, however, was out in force like never before, occupying the greater part of the main floor's front hall that faces the Corredor Sur and Panama Bay. Directly above, the delegation from the People's Republic of China held down more spots than in previous trade fairs. Iran and Canada were also better represented than they were last year, and Indonesia, Poland and South Africa showed up for the first time.
If one believes in a One China Policy, then this was, even more than in the past, a Chinese-dominated show. While exhibitors from the People's Republic and that large segment of the Chinese-Panamanian business community that advocates a realignment of Panama's foreign relations in favor of the mainland celebrated upstairs, Hong Kong occupied its usual large position in the corner of the salon opposite the Hotel Caesar Park. In the main hall, Taiwan's pavilion was the largest and most impressive and occupied the choice central spot.
Canada's former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, once accused of a desire to put Quebec in its place, famously responded: "Yes, I want to put Quebec in its place --- Quebec's place is in Canada." In recent years, however, the separatist Parti Quebecois has controlled the French-speaking province's government, and that political divide was represented by Quebec's and Canada's separate pavilions. Whether or not one cares to count Puerto Rico as part of the USA (and because power has shifted on the island from pro-statehood to pro-commonwealth politicians, the "Puerto Rico, USA" slogan was nowhere to be seen this year), by counting Quebec and Canada as one, and considering BellSouth's large and impressive display as just one more exhibit, the Canadians were the clearly dominant North American business power at this EXPOCOMER. "The Canadians are very aggressive," opined one of their American rivals in the plumbing fixture business.
Quebec was also well represented in Canada's main pavilion, both by its private and public sectors.
Part of the public sector connection was ironic in several ways. Hydro Quebec is the electric company owned by the separatist-controlled provincial government, a socialized industry that has long subsidized Quebec taxpayers with the income generated by selling power to the northeastern United States. When Panama decided to privatize the old IRHE electric utility, it sold the Fortuna Dam and its hydroelectric generating capacity to Hydro Quebec. Fortuna, SA, the Panamanian subsidiary of Quebec's government-owned utility, was in the Canadian rather than the Quebecois pavilion, touting its environmental consciousness. Chalk it up to the company's socially responsible behavior, Canada's good reputation, the Parti Quebecois' anti-imperialist posture or Panama's left-wing and right-wing ideologues' inattention, but during and since the IRHE privatization process there has been nary a protest about "North American imperialism" or "socialist inefficiency" that might be alleged to be inherent in a foreign government's ownership of a Panamanian electric generating business. Note also that the international lenders who have insisted that Panama privatize all of its government-owned utilities have never applied the same standard to Quebec.
Also doing business in the Canada pavilion was the largest Quebec-based private manufacturing corporation, Bombardier. This company rose to prominence with its Ski-doo snowmobiles, which are irrelevant to the Latin American market with the possible exceptions of a few Andean locales and southernmost Chile and Argentina. At EXPOCOMER they were selling off-road vehicles and recreational powerboats, of which the latter product line directly competes with Minnesota-based Jet ski in Panama. The American contender in the race to turn up the noise level on Panamanian beaches was not represented at the trade fair.
The smaller side of Quebec's participation in the the Canadian pavilion were incarnate in Hugo Lemyre and Yohann Blanchette, two long-haired young producers and wholesalers of Christmas Trees and apples. (When this reporter was a few years younger than they were, I had a job harvesting Christmas trees in the northern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The visit to the BL Christmas Trees was thus an occasion to reminisce about the joys and miseries of that line of work --- the heavy labor, the dangerous baling machines, and above all the experiences of becoming a human stick-em by getting covered with pine sap, and of working with evergreen needles in one's shoes and pants.) The two young Montreal-area entrepreneurs were in Panama for the first time and looking forward to seeing more of the country in a couple of weeks of vacationing after the exposition. Blanchette noted BL's aversion to many of the chemicals that other Christmas tree growers use --- the company may spray for insects if forced to do so by an infestation, but they don't use artificial means to make their trees greener, nor do they use sprays to keep the needles on the trees a few days longer.
(Those engaged in the Yuletide seasonal business who would be disposed to place orders with Blanchette's and Lemyre's company might also be interested in another first time EXPOCOMER exhibitor up in the Chinese pavilion. Dai ShaoFeng, the sales manager for the Jiao Guang Decorative Lighting Corporation in China's Taizhou Economic Development Zone, was selling Christmas lights. He'll only have two days in Panama after EXPOCOMER, which he intends to spend mainly in Colon, checking out the Free Zone. He said he'd like to go swimming at least once, and as a Colon native I made a few recommendations that might fit into his busy schedule.)
Noteworthy among other Canadian exhibitors were Prince Edward Island's Irving Shipbuilding, which has sold two tugs to the Panama Canal; Ontario's St. Clair College, which runs a couple of programs out of the City of Knowledge; and the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO), a government-coordinated effort through which Canadian private sector expertise is shared with businesses and institutions abroad. CESO has six programs underway in Panama, helping the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, advising a hotel in Chiriqui and an architectural firm in Colon, assisting Las Cumbres developers' efforts to be more friendly to the environment and supporting couple of economic development programs in Panama's indigenous communities.
When trading notes with a photojournalist colleague covering the same event, his opinion was that most impressive thing about EXPOCOMER was the beautiful women working there. The annual trade fair is always a big work opportunity for Panama's models --- especially the bilingual or multilingual ones --- and at the entrance to the Canada pavilion some of the foxiest of them all were plugging Mike's Hard Lemonade, an alcoholic beverage that they were introducing to Latin America.
Quebec's separate pavilion was dominated by building materials vendors. You could order tiles for your floors, lights for your ceilings or many other manufactured goods there.
The other North American power at EXPOCOMER, the Americans, were located on the other side of the Taiwan pavilion from the Canadians. Most of the exhibitors were well-established Panamanian subsidiaries of US businesses.
Nova Southeastern University, which has been suffering through some hard times with most of the rest of Panama, was looking to reverse its fortunes by signing up new students for its English-language educational programs. Nova's principal competitor here, Florida State University - Panama (which is now no longer a branch of FSU in Tallahassee), was not present.
One American company that should have been employed to confirm my lack of terroristic intentions when entering the convention center is thriving due to events that have seriously hurt other business sectors. I talked to Georal International's international vice-president Dino Farina and Panama manager Juan Liakopulos about their security ingress and egress systems. "Business has been picking up since 9/11," Farina said, noting that his company's system is the only one that has been approved by the US State Department to keep the bad guys out of its embassies and consulates.
When you walk into one of Georal's metal and bulletproof glass entrances, inconspicuous metal detectors will immediately tell whether you are carrying a metal object and keep you from passing to the other side if you are. Scales on the floor will indicate whether you have left something --- maybe your umbrella, maybe a bomb --- in the entrance. The systems can be equipped with voice, face, iris, fingerprint or ID card recognition technologies to limit entry to authorized persons only. The company's promotional literature notes that biometric and other advanced scanning features (explosives sniffers? they don't specifically say) can be added to enhance the "non-confrontational security" that their entrances and exits afford. "If you're contaminated, you won't pass," Farina said.
BellSouth was the largest and most impressive of the US pavilions displays. This year the company, which will surely take a bigger share of Panama's telecommunications market when monopolies expire next year, was promoting its cellular Internet access services in particular.
Behind Canada and to the side of Taiwan, Indonesia made its first EXPOCOMER appearance in the form of Panindo, a Panamanian-Indonesian joint venture selling beautiful mahogany and rattan furniture, which the local manager assured me is made from trees grown on farms rather than cut from virgin rainforests. Cutting the ribbon for Panindo was Panamanian presidential advisor George Weeden.
At Weeden's side was Barnabas Suebu, Indonesia's ambassador to Mexico, the Central American republics and Panama. Suebu said that the political and economic problems that have beset his country since the downfall of the Suharto kleptocracy are "getting better" and Indonesia is now poised to assume a higher profile in the world of commerce.
The Indonesian envoy had a bit of good news for the hard-pressed Panamanian economy. His country is going to make Panama the main Latin America and Caribbean distribution center for all of its export products, and plans to open a Colon Free Zone showroom for that purpose next November.
"For us, this is just the beginning of the beginning," Suebu vowed. Indonesia's main exports at the moment are wood products, textiles and garments, shoes and other leather goods and cooking oils. However, the vast archipelago of 17,000 islands has a population nearly equal to that of the United States and sufficient resources to develop in any number of directions, so the prospects are good for Panamanian - Indonesian commercial ties that go well beyond the shipping industry's Panama-flag vessels with Indonesian crews.
Upstairs on the side toward the Caesar Park, Iran had its biggest presence yet. As before, fine Persian rugs were the principal offering. This year, however, they were also promoting tourism and selling fine porcelain wares.
In the back of Iran's area, artist Alaleh Bagherieh was making her second EXPOCOMER appearance. Her first, in 1999, got her on the cover of The Panama News, which she was displaying along with her work. At a distance her art may look like painting, but it's really stained wood inlaid in stained wood, then coated in urethane and polished to a fine sheen. Her designs include Christian and kitschy themes, but mostly follow Persian traditions (which, of course, bear the marks of the many ancient cultures upon that well-trod crossroads between Eastern and Western civilizations).
Bagherieh, who speaks some English but little or no Spanish, kept her interpreter busy. She had the most remote spot in Iran's out-of-the-way area, but crowds of art lovers made their way back there to see her artwork and make their inquiries. To do that, they had to pass by Iran's other offerings.
At the other end of the hall from Iran, Cuba occupied its customary position. This year for the first time in a long time, the Cubans were not selling cigars, rum or pharmaceuticals. However, as at past trade fairs you could get your Che Guevara T-shirt or pick up CDs to satiate your appetite for the Afro-Cuban beat. You could also check out Cuban arts and crafts, swimsuits, candies and beer.
Cuba has been gradually emerging from the economic stagnation that came with the collapse of the Soviet Union and its COMECON international trade network, and tourism has been leading the way in that recovery. Inquiries about holidays in the sun were welcome at the Cuban pavilion.
Plugging one of Cuba's most successful tourism niches, and also selling medical supplies and fielding inquiries about applications to Cuban medical schools, was an orthopedic surgeon and trauma specialist, Dr. Noel González Fundora. The physician pointed out his country's medical system's appeal to foreigners, particularly in Latin American countries with underdeveloped or unaffordable health care. "We offer the entire gamut of treatments, at reasonable prices," Dr. González said, pointing to war-torn Colombia as the biggest source of foreign patients for the Frank Pais International Orthopedic Scientific Complex where he works.
Downstairs in Brazil's area, less conventional health care products were being vigorously pushed by Dr. Evandro de Araújo Silva, of Pronatus do Amazonas. His company processes and sells a wide variety of herbal remedies, cosmetics, dietary supplements and skin and hair care products made from Amazon rainforest plants. Their display featured everything from appetite suppressants to zit creams. Whether you want a natural sunscreen, relief from PMS or gout, or a jungle aphrodisiac to enhance the effects of those lewd pulsating rhythms, Pronatus do Amazonas has a product for you.
Next to the herbal remedies, the Brazilian government was plugging an Amazon trade fair that will take place in Manaus this coming September. The fair will promote all of the area's industries, but one of the main ideas is that the rainforest will be more easily saved if markets for products that depend on its existence are developed.
Brazil was also offering packaging equipment, lingerie, cosmetics, clothing, kitchenware, tourism, hats, furniture, shoes, plumbing supplies, plastics, machines that make disposable diapers, warehousing services, tomato paste, children's pools, charcoal grills, car parts and liquors.
One Brazilian product line that interested me, which probably would have resulted in a sale if my economic circumstances were very different, was A. Carnavalli & Cia. Ltda.'s web presses. For only $150,000 or so The Panama News could go back into print without being at the mercy of competitors who run the daily newspapers.
Brazil also offered beautiful and inexpensive lace tablecloths and doilies. These, however, cannot be legally imported into the United States or into many other countries. They were the products of convict labor. In another display on the other side of the convention center, doors made by Colombian prisoners were also being shown. Chalk it up to the weakness of Panama's labor unions that there were no picket lines.
Next to Brazil was Argentina, and for one of their exhibitors --- a Buenos Aires bank --- EXPOCOMER probably provided an opportunity to get away from the picketers back home. The Argentine displays were mostly foods, beverages and textiles. At one end they were showing veterinary products and pet foods, but I noticed no dogs or cats sampling the merchandise.
Back down the hall, on the other side of Brazil's pavilion from the Argentines, Thailand held forth. This delegation is a small but regular EXPOCOMER participant, offering mostly manufactured goods. They had air conditioners, building materials, clothing, footwear and school supplies to sell. Wittayakorn Maneenetr, who represented the Thai government's Department of Export Promotion, acknowledged that it is and has been a difficult time to export to Latin America, but said that despite the regional and global economic difficulties his country is holding onto its market share.
The back part of ATLAPA, facing the Evergreen Building, has been the customary location for India and Spain.
India's representatives came from the Aryan north and the Dravidian south, and from the Hindu majority and Muslim and Sikh minorities. Its products were mostly industrial supplies, with some jewelry and very nice carved wooden and cast bronze furniture in the mix. D. Subramanian, a first-time visitor to Panama who was representing the Graphics Reproduction Syndicate from Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, made a very attractive soft-sell pitch --- he showed off the syndicate's labels and stickers, which were top-notch. As the sample folders which he passed out proclaimed in English and Spanish: "We do have the merit over all others --- a small matter of QUALITY, SERVICE & PRICE." The English may not have been American Standard and the the Spanish may have been slightly stilted, but the printing made the words superfluous anyway.
The Spanish displays went heavy on the kitchenware and building materials, as in years past. One of the fair's coolest products was the "Filtro Magico" by Comerical Orea, Ltd., an inexpensive ($10) durable plastic insert that fits inside standard blenders. You can put a passionfruit or a melon --- skin, seeds and all --- on the inside and set the blender to liquefy. The unwanted gritty and pulpy stuff stays inside the filter, and the juice that seeps out to the outer part of the blender, ready to pour, is perfect.
Joining the Filtro Magico and the previously mentioned Georal International security doors on my list of EXPOCOMER's most interesting products are the following:
* Professor Li Zhenyu's DA863 Filter, a multi-purpose water treatment product offered by China's Zhejiang Dean New Technology Development Co., Ltd. Using different inserts, you can desalinate seawater for drinking and make salt on the side; remove industrial wastes in order to reuse the water in which it flows; keep the gunk out of your aquarium, swimming pool or shrimp raising tank; make tainted water potable; or treat household sewage before dumping it into the river or bay;
* Solar water headers by Taiwan's Suncue Company Ltd.; and
* "Dracula Sangre," an tasty 50 proof elderberry and honey liquor made in Germany and distributed in Panama by Gastro Bistro & Ca.
That which is beautiful is another story. While acknowledging that my photographer colleague's observation had a certain validity, I won't try to compare the models. However, in addition to Alaleh Bagherieh's previously-mentioned artwork and the rugs offered by some of her fellow Iranians, these items deserve special mention:
* The engraved ostrich eggs, which were the most beautiful objects in a gorgeous South African exhibit;
* Japan's display of dolls and lacquered boxes, part of a small but very tasteful display meant to demonstrate the ways that Japanese traditions are continued in its modern designs;
* The Venetian glass sculptures by Italy's Murano-Venezia; and
* The ceramics and marble sculptures by members of Masaya, Nicaragua's Grupo Raices.
Finally, it should be noted that EXPOCOMER is also an opportunity for Panamanian businesses to show off products that they'd like to export. The government and service sectors were out in force as usual, but we didn't have as wide a variety of merchandise as we should have had on display. EXPOCOMER's Panamanian businesses whose products make them most worthy of the export contracts they seek all fit into the eating healthy category, in this reporter's opinion. They are:
* D'l Eden, which dries fruit for the national market and wants to sell to North America and the Caribbean;
* Aloe Panama, SA, which makes aloe products in Panama Oeste and Cocle, including an aloe drink that you mix with orange juice. It sounds gross, but tastes great, and they say it's good for you; and
* Sí, es Natural, SA, whose apiaries in Chiriqui produce honey and other bee products, including some tasty and potent mead.
The fair will end after this issue of The Panama News is uploaded. Shortly thereafter the Chamber of Commerce will issue its estimated sales figures, while hotels, restaurants and taxi drivers will compare this year's EXPOCOMER with its predecessors. As imprecise as these measures may be, they will amount to one of the best indicators of the state of Panama's commercial sector.
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