Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela tries out the latest iFlytek translator on Dec 2. [Photo from WeChat account hfsrmzffb]

In order to strengthen bilateral economic ties, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade hosted a comprehensive expo of Chinese brands in Panama on Dec 2. 

The expo, which is the largest of its kind to ever be held by China in the Central American country, featured quality Chinese products in the realms of financial service, automotive industry, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile internet, engineering machinery, and many other sectors. 

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela toured the expo in person. He was particularly attracted to the exhibition booth of iFlytek, a Hefei-based AI company which focuses on speech technologies. He even tried out the latest iFlytek translator, which can facilitate immediate conversion between 34 languages. 

The president said "Bienvenidos a Panama" (Welcome to Panama) into the translator, which then instantaneously produced the Chinese translation. The staff of iFlytek gave the president one of the translators as a gift. 

This is not the first time the iFlytek translator has impressed world leaders. During Premier Li Keqiang's official visit to Bulgaria in July, Li conversed with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov via the translator at iFlytek's exhibition booth, and personally bough it as a gift for Borissov afterwards.

The iFlytek translator [Photo from WeChat account hfsrmzffb]