"It is the culmination of seven years of campaigning to save these magnificent buildings, " said Howard Stone, the hall's chairman.

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In a cavernous sweltering hall on the former Howard U.S. Air Force Base, all of Panama's ministers and President Martin Torrijos gathered to sign an agreement to construct what will become one of the largest development projects in the country's history.

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"This is a critical victory for Merck, " says Howard Erichson, a professor of law at Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey.

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