Panama City, May 11 (EFE).– Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and several Latin American leaders will attend the June 26 inauguration of the expanded Panama Canal, the government of that Central American nation confirmed Wednesday.

“President (Michelle) Bachelet of Chile, the presidents of Honduras (Juan Orlando Hernandez) and El Salvador (Salvador Sanchez Ceren), former President Jimmy Carter of the United States and some Caribbean leaders have confirmed … This is a historic moment for Panama,” Panama’s vice president and foreign minister, Isabel De Saint Malo, said.

More than 70 heads of state and government from across the world have been invited to the inauguration, including U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, neither of whom has indicated plans to attend.

The United States is the biggest user of the Panama Canal, which currently handles roughly 6 percent of world trade, followed by China and Chile.

The inauguration ceremony will take place at the Cocoli locks on the Pacific side, with one of the China COSCO shipping company’s New Panamax vessels due to make the first-ever transit through the expanded waterway.

The 91-year-old Carter, who served as U.S. president from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, played a key role in ending the United States’ colonial presence in Panama.

On Sept. 7, 1977, he and late Panamanian Gen. Omar Torrijos, the country’s then-de facto leader, signed treaties that stipulated the return of the canal to the Central American country’s jurisdiction on Dec. 31, 1999, after decades of U.S. administration dating back to 1914.

The centerpiece of the canal’s expansion program, launched in 2007 with an initial budget of $5.25 billion, is a third set of locks that will enable it to accommodate New Panamax ships.

Those modern ships hold up to 13,000 20-foot-long containers and are three times bigger than what the canal can currently handle.

Completion of the expansion project, originally scheduled for 2014, was pushed back on several occasions due to repairs, strikes and contractual disputes between the Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, and the consortium – led by Spain’s Sacyr Vallehermoso – responsible for building the third set of locks. EFE