Officials from the World Trade Center of New Orleans, the Louisiana Department of Economic Development and the Port of New Orleans hope this week's trade mission to Panama enhances economic opportunities between Louisiana and the Central American country.

Michael Olivier, secretary of Louisiana Economic Development; Gary LaGrange, president of the Port of New Orleans; and Charles Nelson, 2005 World Trade Center president and chief executive of Waldemar S. Nelson & Co. Inc., are leading the mission.

"The purpose of the mission is to promote Louisiana's trade, transportation, tourism, educational and other reciprocal interests with Panama," Nelson said. "We expect the mission to Panama to be one of the most productive to date. Panama has a vibrant economy and offers numerous opportunities for Louisiana companies in many sectors."

Mission leaders hope the trip will pique trade between the two locales.

Louisiana exported more than $58.3 worth of products to Panama in the first six months of 2004, according to the Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division, a 13.2 percent decrease from $63.2 million in 2003 exports during the same time.

Louisiana's main exports to Panama are mineral fuels and oil, cereals, food industry residues and animal feed, paper and pulp products and paint, inks and tanning dyes.

The trade mission will include several high-level briefings and business meetings between New Orleans and Panamanian representatives. It will feature a reception with U.S. Ambassador Linda Watt as host and a special orientation on Panama Canal operations where about one-fourth of the cargo from the Port of New Orleans' passes, said Gene Schriber, World Trade Center managing director.

The American Chamber of Commerce also scheduled an information session for the Industry of Panama, a business relations organization, to network with trade mission delegates regarding business opportunities in Louisiana.

Nelson said the World Trade Center set up several meetings with Panamanian business leaders and government officials in hopes participants can establish ties in Central America.

"Personally, I'll be looking to identify opportunities for engineering, architecture and project management services in Panama's ports, housing, power and industrial sectors," Nelson said. "I'm really looking forward to a tour of a (manufactured housing) plant."

Greater New Orleans Inc. will try to establish ties benefiting New Orleans-area businesses unable to go on the mission, said Marisol Canedo, GNO Inc. international trade development manager.

"Our main interest in these trade missions is to expand business ties that could lead to opportunities and job creation in southeast Louisiana," Canedo said. "We're looking to expand international business and economic opportunities between the 10-parish Greater New Orleans region and Panama."

GNO Inc. wants to move more products, such as paper, now being exported out of this region, she said.

Darlene Kattan, spokeswoman for New Orleans-based Black's Gaslight Village LLC, a film production company, is looking for people interested in the state's burgeoning film industry.

"We've got a film that will be produced in Louisiana, and we're going down there looking for people who might want to be involved in the film industry, mainly as potential investors," Kattan said. "We're looking at this as a major opportunity to secure potential funding for the project."

The trade mission to Panama is the fourth Louisiana mission to a Central American country in recent years. Previous missions have been to Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica, Nelson said.

"Mayor (C. Ray) Nagin attended the mission to Honduras right after he was elected and that really helped our cause," he said. "The Honduran political leadership, especially the mayor of the host city of Tegucigalpa who is an LSU graduate, really enjoyed meeting with him and felt we had a sincere interest in helping their country economically."

On the mission to Nicaragua, an alligator farmer from southwest Louisiana who develops hide-tanning products, began selling his products to the Nicaraguan farmer.

"That was one of the most unexpected ties we thought we'd find but it worked," Nelson said.•