Torrijos, Uribe on Canal, Pipeline
Panamanian President Martin Torrijos is due to visit officially Colombia, to explain his counterpart Alvaro Uribe implications of modernization of the Panama Canal Zone for regional and world trade.

According to a release from the Colombian presidency, Torrijos will attend, along with Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the opening of construction of the Colombian-Venezuelan gas pipeline Saturday in Maracaibo.

Torrijos and Uribe´s agenda includes gas supply, power inter-connection, trade between the two countries and modernization of the Panama Canal Zone, fundamental for the region.

This project includes the construction of two locks with three levels, one in the Atlantic and another in the Pacific, vats for reusing water and digging banks.

According to Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco, the Panama Canal Zone obeys not only the passway´s geographic and trade importance, but also support assigned in the Uribe Vargas-Ozores Treaty, inked on August 22, 1979.