January 17, 2002. – Panama Canal Administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta will speak today on the future of the waterway at the National Conference about the Future of the Americas, organized by the World Affairs Councils of America, which was inaugurated by President George W. Bush.

This year the National Conference, which will undertake issues of interest to the hemisphere such as the Embargo on Cuba, the War against Drugs, The Future of Colombia, and the Treaty of Free Trading in the Americas, will dedicate one of its sessions to The Future of the Panama Canal.

Alemán Zubieta participates in this forum with renown personalities such as César Gaviria, OAS General Secretary; Enrique Iglesias, President of the Interamerican Bank of Development (BID); Peter Hakim, President of Interamerican Dialogue; Sir Eldon Griffiths, President of the World Affairs Councils of America.

The inclusion of the topic of the future of the Panama Canal in the agenda of this conference underlines that the hemisphere’s community recognizes the importance of the waterway’s affairs, and it serves as an opportunity for the Administrator to present the entity’s immediate policies.