New Delhi [India], July 20 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday welcomed his Panamanian counterpart, Javier Martinez-Acha Vasquez, pledging to deepen bilateral ties across all domains amid shifting global trade dynamics.

Speaking during delegation-level talks with the Foreign Minister of Panama, Jaishankar said that the meeting builds on a string of high-level exchanges between the two nations.

'I'm very glad today that I have an opportunity to welcome you here. We had met recently, during the 5th India SICA Foreign Ministers' Meeting, which the two of us had co-chaired last September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Your current visit builds on the momentum of high-level exchanges that we've had,' he said.

The bilateral talks arrive as Panama launches a targeted diplomatic push to recruit India into the Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty.

Jaishankar expressed strong optimism for the future of the partnership, noting that the current diplomatic engagement acts as a direct continuation of a momentum that has been building since his own visit to Panama three years ago.

'I have every hope that your visit will further strengthen our relationship across all domains. I was in Panama about three years ago,' Jaishankar said.

'I believe that both our governments and leaders are very keen on deepening and widening our partnership,' Jaishankar said, adding, 'And certainly, we look forward to closer ties with Panama because you offer both, a very strategic location, as well as, enormous economic stability and potential for a partner like India,' he added.

The push for closer ties with India underpins Panama's broader strategy to safeguard its sovereign, independent foreign policy.

Earlier, while speaking with ANI, Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha Vasquez stated that Panama is making a concerted diplomatic push to recruit India as a strategic partner to safeguard the absolute neutrality of the Panama Canal while rejecting global rhetoric.

Speaking with ANI during his official state visit, the Foreign Minister emphasised Panama's absolute resolve to safeguard its independent foreign policy and national sovereignty through proven governance of the Panama Canal.

'The canal by itself presents the best defense for the sovereignty of Panama within the canal: efficiency, responsibility, and most important, the security with which the canal has been managed by Panamanians in this century,' Martinez-Acha Vasquez declared. 'We expanded the canal with our resources, and we are very proud of what we have achieved in 25 years, 26 years, under our administration.'

To reinforce its independent position, he stated Panama is actively working to get major global powers, specifically India, to join the canal's neutrality treaty.

'One of the missions that I have here is to keep the conversation with the Foreign Minister of India about the need that we do have from India to be part of the neutrality treaty of the canal. We want our canal to be respected, again, as an international asset that belongs to Panama,' he added. (ANI)