The annual EXPOCOMER trade show put rabiblanco exclusivity on display this year. And who was excluded? Most probably, people like you. The message that the Chamber of Commerce sent to the rest of the world, intentionally or not, is that a little clique of people with illustrious surnames are important and you’re not, and they have enough money so that your business is of no significance to them.
The exclusion began before people got to the front door.
People in wheelchairs and walkers? Physically barred by a degrading metal barrier similar to the chutes used to set cattle up for branding, except for switchbacks designed to make entrance more uncomfortable for most and impossible for others.
As one approached this monstrosity, the sign told of a new dress code. No shorts. At the door they added new unwritten exclusions to this --- no sandals. If you got turned away, you had to do the limbo under the metal barrier because they left no other way out.
Opening day and its no doubt usually boring inaugural ceremonies were by invitation only --- no reporters from small media allowed.
The next two days were for registered buyers only --- no window shoppers, only people with money ready to endure the hard sell.
Inside, EXPOCOMER continued its downward slide of recent years, with only 30 countries participating, and only Colombia, Brazil and Russia substantially increasing their delegations. Taiwan as usual had the biggest, most interesting and best located pavilion.
For a first-time visitor, this year’s EXPOCOMER was no doubt very impressive. It is still one of the world’s principal trade fairs. But to one who has been to every version of the event over the past decade, the decline has been unmistakable.
The US pavilion was again quite small when one considers the important position that the Americans play in Panama’s commercial life, and considering what it was like a few years ago, before the people at the Chamber of Commerce grabbed control of and revenues from the US pavilion away from the American Chamber of Commerce. When they did that a number of important businesses decided that they didn’t need to pay to be insulted and haven’t been back since.
But gringos should neither take it personally, nor as a nationalistic slur. With the exception of Spain, European participation in EXPOCOMER was way down. The delegation from the People’s Republic of China, which now puts on its own impressive trade show at ATLAPA, seemed to be just a bit reduced from previous years. The entire English-speaking Caribbean, every Scandinavian country, the United Kingdom and Japan were all absent. You could have counted the exhibitors from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru or the Dominican Republic on one hand and still not have used most of your fingers. The same could also be said about such major trading powers as France, Germany and South Korea.
Again this year, we also saw a continuation of tendency that has been growing over these past several years of Latin American economic difficulty. With the exception of food processing equipment and things for offices, the major emphasis was on consumer goods. (You can also see this, and have been able to do so for years, in the sorts of things that get plugged by Colon Free Zone businesses in all those ugly billboards on the Transistmica.) Basically the expectation is that the choices of things to sell in Latin America these days are predicated upon those who can afford it consuming --- whether they are big-ticket luxury items or cheap good for the mass market --- rather than based upon the idea of supplying the needs of those who produce. If and when the Latin American economy rebounds, it will almost certainly be reflected in an increase in displays of industrial equipment and supplies at EXPOCOMER.
A major exception to the general downward trend was the entertainment on the stage outside ATLAPA. This year there seemed to be more acts --- most of them with a tipico flair as in the past --- and you could attend in your shorts and flip-flops without paying an entrance fee or passing through a cattle branding chute. There are a couple of ways to look at this phenomenon. On the positive side, was it the Chamber of Commerce making a greater effort to entice foreign business visitors to come back and do business in Panama because it’s a fun place to go? Or, on the other hand, was it mainly meant as a distraction for the unwashed masses, who are presumed not to know or care about Panama’s vital role as an international import/export and warehousing center?
Maybe all the downsizing shouldn’t be attributed to the chamber’s narrow-mindedness or short-sightedness. Business volume at the Colon Free Zone is still sluggish due to a South American economy that may be better than last year’s but which has barely begun to crawl out of the depths to which it fell in the several previous years. In the name of national security George W. Bush has made it much harder for all but the biggest foreign companies to export to the United States. Panama’s banking sector is contracting and unless you are a millionaire with the proper references, they really don’t want your business. Panama is awash in Colombian drug money and welcomes American fraud artists, but serious investors --- both foreign and domestic --- hesitate to risk their money in this country so long as officials of the rapacious Moscoso regime hold the power to shake them down.
But this year’s problems were not entirely attributable to factors external to the Chamber of Commerce. The chamber’s thinking did much to set the tone for this year’s trade fair, and that was nowhere more clearly displayed in the full page ads that the event’s single official newspaper sponsor, El Panama America, ran on every day of the fair. Each of these ads featured half a dozen or more photos of dignitaries in suits cutting ribbons or otherwise posing together, and virtually all of these featured chamber leaders Raúl Delvalle and Edgardo Carles. Some of these ads featured pictures of foreign ambassadors, and some showed Panamanian politicians, but conspicuously missing was anything about the various businesses present or the goods and services they had to offer.
This, too, shall pass. Better economic times, a more reasonable national and regional investment climate --- and yes, better EXPOCOMER trade fairs --- will surely return in years to come. But this year’s event was on the whole a disappointment.
Also in this section:
Business & Economy Briefs
Controversy over ship security inspections
US government report on RP money laundering
EXPOCOMER 2004
The Panama News readership figures
