When President Varela returns from his World Cup jaunt he will find a Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (Cciap)  anxiously waiting for attention to Panama’s economy.

In a statement issued on Sunday, June 17 the business leaders says the government urgently  needs  to adopt policies that encourage the performance of some sectors of the national economy such as construction internal trade and tourism in the face of weak economic growth,

The Chamber said the government must search for" win-win formulas "with business partners, especially those with stable markets and The Chamber of Commerce cited, for example, the preparation for the start of the negotiations of a free trade treaty with the People's Republic of China.

“In the Chamber, we have initiated the approaches with our membership, explaining the process and understanding the positions of each sector, in order to represent them in the best way and take advantage of opportunities that are generated from this relationship between both countries, "

More than 70 manufacturers of the Chinese Council for International Promotion, were  in Panama for a three-day fair first "Quality China - Zhejiang Expo 2018" organized by the Chamber and they began talks with the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá to establish a joint plan aimed at promoting the signing of an agreement between Panama and Colombia, "to overcome the dispute arising from the restrictive measures adopted by the Colombian government ".

At the national level, the Cciap seeks to promote entry into the Pacific Alliance, a platform that "has been producing highly positive results for its members, with horizons still more promising by virtue of our rapprochement and full relations with Asian countries."

There was no mention of the Russian language program touted by President Varela while in Moscow, a proposal received with skepticism by educators and businessmen in Panama where barely 15 percent of the population can speak English, the lingua franca of trade.