PRESIDENT of China Xi Jinping has inspected the new neo-panamax locks at the Panama Canal as part of a visit to the small Central American nation.
President Xi and his Panamanian counterpart President Juan Carlos Varela visited the neo-panamax locks and also talked to the captain of the ship Cosco Shipping Rose, a Hong Kong-flagged box ship.
According to a Cosco statement, the two heads of state and their spouses then had a photo in front of the vessel.
Cosco Shipping Rose departed from Qingdao, China on 1 October this year, sailed across the Pacific and then into the Atlantic.
On that day, the vessel was fully dressed with bunting, with a banner flying at one side of the ship reading, “May China-Panama Friendship Last Forever. May World Trade Prosper Always. May President Xi Jinping a Complete Successful Visit to Panama”.
