The elected president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, said that he spoke with the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, after his victory and that they addressed the possibility of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Mercosur.

“It will give us an important economic muscle what we can have with that southern economic bloc,” said Mulino, who will take over on July 1, referring to the possibility of a commercial link with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Mulino, who denied in his speech being an “ultra-right”, also promised to deport migrants who enter the country through the Darién jungle, bordering Colombia, on his journey to the United States.

More than 520,000 people, mostly Venezuelans, crossed the inhospitable jungle in 2023, which has forced the Panamanian government to allocate resources to assist them. In the first quarter of the year, more than 110,000 people made the journey, according to official figures.

“So that those there [in nations of South America] and those who would like to come know that here the one who arrives will be returned to his country of origin,” Mulino said during a speech at the event in which the National Scrutiny Board formally proclaimed him as the next president for the period 2024-2029.

Mercosur, under the orbit of Lula da Silva’s leadership, has been looking for new FTAs with different world economies. The most recent interest is Japan.

Last week, the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, met with President Lula Da Silva in Brazil, to whom he expressed his intention to “strengthen” relations with the regional bloc and take economic cooperation “to the next level.”

Mercosur recently signed a trade agreement with Singapore and entered into negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while a resolution in the agreement with the European Union (EU) is delayed.