Singapore and Panama recently announced that the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their maritime relations.

Under the MoU, signed by Quah Ley Hoon, chief executive of MPA Singapore, and Noriel Araúz, minister of maritime affairs and administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) in Panama, the maritime authorities agreed to cooperate on maritime matters including the promotion of the use and acceptance of ship’s electronic certificates to facilitate port state inspections, the exercise of port state control (PSC) inspections by both countries, as well as personnel exchange.

“This cooperation will strengthen maritime relations between our two countries. It will also yield significant benefits through speedier port clearances for vessels registered with our two countries calling at our ports,” Lam Pin Min, senior minister of state for transport and senior minister of State for Health of the Republic of Singapore said.

The statement noted that as Singapore and Panama are the top five ship registries in the world, vessels registered with either Panama or Singapore calling at each other’s ports will benefit from faster checks and clearances.

"Panama and Singapore's maritime sectors have always had excellent relations, but this MoU between our countries will address important technical issues for both Ship Registries," Araúz said.

"We are pleased to cooperate and bring to our customers and ship owners, the most advanced technologies to alleviate the administrative burden and facilitate access to port state control inspections, and port clearances. It will be of great benefit for Singapore and Panama Registries," he added.