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UM
wins contract to draft
Panama's mining legislation
UM
will direct a multinational team of legal experts in a project
to reform mining laws and regulations for the government
of Panama. UM won the $350,000 contract in a competitive
bid awarded by the Inter-American Development Bank, an international
government organization that funds development activities
in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The
project will be supervised by UM legal counsel and law school
adjunct faculty member David Aronofsky, along with UM law
school alumnus and local attorney Phil McCreedy. Other members
of the team will include legal experts from Montana and
across the United States, as well as from Canada, Chile
and Panama. Legal counsel from one of Montana's American
Indian tribal governments also is expected to participate.
The
project requires preparation of draft legislation and regulations
to modernize Panama's current mining law regime by January
2003.
"Panama
has some of the world's largest quantities of precious metal
resources, but they are located on and near Panamanian indigenous
peoples' lands, as well as environmentally fragile national
forests," said Aronofsky, who teaches international
law and advanced legislation at UM and is fluent in Spanish.
"Panama's constitution, like Montana's, guarantees
its citizens a clean and healthful environment.
"This
poses some unique challenges for our international team
of experts to develop a legal framework that permits mining
while protecting important Panamanian and native peoples'
cultural and ecological interests."
After
this work is completed, a larger second phase requiring
extensive surveys of relevant geographic sites is expected
to be funded by the IADB. Montana private-sector companies
will have the opportunity to bid on this work.
The
project evolved from a Montana-Panama partnership initiated
nearly two years ago by the Montana World Trade Center based
at UM.The MWTC obtained a grant from the U.S. Trade Development
Administration to fund Montana visits for mining-sector
officials of the Panamanian Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
The center also has worked to develop other partnership
opportunities with Panama.
MWTC
Director Arnie Sherman said, "Panama is a good place
for Montanans to participate in the country's economic development
because it has a well-educated, hard-working labor force,
excellent infrastructure and outstanding relations with
the United States."
UM
was invited to bid for the project by an IADB official familiar
with Montana's experience in mining, environmental and Indian
law issues. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus later helped the University
obtain the project after being assured of the Panamanian
government's commitment to environmental and native peoples'
protection in any initiative to reform mineral law.
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