Central American leaders will attend a three-day meeting in Panama City on Tuesday to discuss energy issues, Panama's Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro said on Sunday.

Among those attending are Costa Rica's President Abel Pacheco, Guatemala's President Oscar Berger, Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya, Belize's Prime Minister Said Musa and El Salvador's Vice President Vilma Escobar. They will discuss a proposed petrol refinery that supplies energy to the region.

The summit, initiated by Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, will be held to coincide with the 24th Panama Commercial Expo (Expocomer). Panama now holds the presidency of the Central America Integration System (SICA) during the first half of 2006.

"We have invited the leaders to attend an event in the framework of Expocomer because the trade fair is ... emblematic of what this country represents -- a center of global commerce," Navarro said.

Foreign ministers from SICA nations will also join the meeting. They will present an agenda that the SICA brings to the meeting between the European Union (EU) and Latin American nations in May. The SICA plans to launch negotiations for a free trade deal with the EU.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2006)