TORRIJOS, URIBE AND CHAVEZ TO MEET REGARDING GAS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 001293 SIPDIS SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D COPY E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/03/2016 TAGS: ENRG EINV EPET BTIO BEXP PREL XM SUBJECT: TORRIJOS, URIBE AND CHAVEZ TO MEET REGARDING GAS PIPELINE AGREEMENT REF: PANAMA 1251 Classified By: AMB. W.A.Eaton for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) VP/FM Lewis telephoned the Ambassador on July 3rd to advise him that President Torrijos will be visiting Colombia on Friday, July 7th. On Saturday July 8th, President Torrijos and President Uribe will travel to the Colombian/Venezuelan border to meet with President Chavez. The purpose of the meeting is to continue the dialogue regarding a natural gas pipeline from Venezuela to Panama through Colombia. Lewis stated this meeting would be announced publicly on Wednesday July 5th and the purpose of the telephone call was to inform the USG and confirm that this would not have any negative impact on bilateral relations. ¶2. (U) As a result of Chavez' visit to Panama June 22nd and 23rd (Ref),Panama and Venezuela signed three MOU's regarding energy cooperation. The MOU's are an initial statement of intent and do not contain substantive or executable details. The text of each memo is identical with the exception of the objective statement(s) which specify the two countries shall cooperate regarding the establishment of 1) a refinery 2) a natural gas pipeline through Colombia and 3) storage and distribution of petroleum products. The memos in their entirety are available on the Ministry of Industry and Commerce website (www.mici.gob.pa). EATON