The United States – Panama Business Councils, USPA USA and USPA Panama, were created and launched in 1994 with the mission to strengthen relations between the U.S. Its current President is the former Panamanian Ambassador to the United States, Amb. Jerry Weller, Member of Congress 1995-1999. Past leadership has included Thomas F. (Mack) McLarty, Counselor to the President, Secretary of Commerce Ro
n Brown, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, Undersecretary of Commerce Kenneth Juster, George Allen, former Governor of Virginia, Congressman of Virginia Tom Davis and Steve Forbes, among others. The United States – Panama Business Council’s (USPA USA) policies and strategic planning office is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and its administrative office is in Houston, Texas. USPA-Panama has its headquarters in Panama City, Panama. The USPA Business Council West Chapter (USPAW) was approved by USPA Board of Directors in March 26, 2012. It includes the entire Western United States. The mission of USPAW is to Promote Business between the Western United States and Panama in connection to Global Trade. The recent ratification of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Panama, in addition to the economic growth of the country fueled by large investments in infrastructure, the creation of the maritime, logistics and aviation hub, and the expansion of the Panama Canal and other economic sectors, have attracted the attention of business leaders and investors especially looking to the opportunities that the FTA and the expansion is creating.
