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Press Release: Construction of the Panama Gem & Jewelry Center has moved into high gear with the Panama Diamond Exchange (PDE) reporting brisk interest both regionally and internationally for office space in the first phase of the complex, as well as in membership and affiliation with PDE itself. The first-phase building will be fully operational by October of this year. The response following the official launch of the Panama Gem & Jewelry Center two weeks ago was immediate, according to Erez Akerman, PDE's president. "Companies that attended the event were in my office the next day, asking to see floor plans and requesting information about layouts and schedules," he stated. "The fact that they had visited the construction site and saw how quickly things are developing made the whole process very urgent for them." Concrete floors and steel girders are already in place at the 18,685-square-meter plot in the prestigious Santa Maria Business District, which is scheduled to be transformed into Latin America's primary gem and jewelry trading center. Construction workers are making swift progress on the first phase of the development, which involves a two-story building that will serve as the headquarters of PDE, including its administrative offices and a 300-square-meter trading floor. The building will also provide office space for up to 59 companies. Tailored to meet the demands of the trade, the building features a variety of services and facilities, including security vaults for the storage of precious merchandise, weighing stations, gemological services, communications services, meeting rooms, a restaurant and secure transportation services between the center and Tocumen International Airport, just 11.5 kilometers away. The entire complex will be located in the Vaguil Free Zone, which was established by an act of the Panama's Parliament for the benefit of the international gem and jewelry trade and exempts transactions conducted within its area from payments of customs duties and taxes, and corporations registered in the Free Zone from paying company tax. Space in the first building will be leased and not sold and PDE is allotting offices in such a way that there will be fair representation from the various international trading centers, as well as from Panama and Latin America. All residents of the Panama Gem & Jewelry Center will also have to be PDE members and affiliates, but one will not have to lease office space to be a member or affiliate of PDE. PDE members and affiliates who are not tenants will be able to use the bourse as a business headquarters, through their access and use of the PDE trading floor, vaults, meeting rooms, arbitration and other facilities. The second phase of the Panama Gem & Jewelry Center, which will involve the construction of a multi-story office building, will begin in 2015. There, the offices and trading floor of the PDE will be located in the low-rise base of the complex, along with a luxury commercial center, banks, specialized support services, restaurants and high-end retail jewelry stores. Office space in the Phase II office tower will be available for purchase and companies leasing space in the Phase I building will be provided the first choice on offices when they become available. Over the coming months, the PDE president will travel to all the major industry centers to meet with candidates for offices in the Phase I building of the Panama Gem & Jewelry Center, as well as to provide information about the larger development project and membership and affiliation in PDE. He will be visiting Antwerp from April 7 to April 11.
The Panama Diamond Exchange (PDE) is the first and only diamond bourse in the entire region of Latin America, including South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. It will anchor the Panama Gem & Jewelry Center, which is now under construction and is designed to serve as the primary Latin American trading center and international gateway to and from one of the world jewelry industry's most exciting growth markets.
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