On January 22, 2025, legislator Benisio Enacio Robinson González of circuit 1-1 and nineteen co-sponsors, including Eduardo Abdiel Núñez, Raphael Buchanan Joseph, Arquesio Arias Félix, Luis Eduardo Camacho Castro, Isaac Mosquera Rivas, Berta Nidia Moreno Flores, Nixson Andrade Rodríguez, Gertrudis Rodríguez de Gracia, Carlos Agustín Afú Decerega, Joana Yamileth Cedeño Pino, Nicolás Adames Arias, Ariana Marisín Coba Martínez, Francisco Javier Brea Tristán, Edwin Antonio Vergara Castillo, Sara J. Magallón Caicedo de Ruiz, Gabriel Andrés Solís Arias, Jaime Edgardo Vargas Centella, Eduardo Enrique Vásquez Gutiérrez and Luis Miguel Charris Ábrego, presented Draft Bill No. 300 to the president of the National Assembly, Dana Castañeda. It was later assigned as Bill No. 217, establishing the Law of the Almirante Multimodal Economic Area.

Article 1 of the 131-page text defines its central objective as creating a legal, fiscal, customs, labor, immigration and multimodal business regime for the district of Almirante, province of Bocas del Toro, that guarantees the free flow of passengers, goods, services and capital and massively reactivates the Capitán Manuel Niño Changuinola Airport as an air terminal. The Port of Almirante would be enabled as a transshipment center for cargo and passengers, a node complementary to the archipelago's banana and tourism activity. Article 4 creates the Almirante Multimodal Economic Area Agency, an autonomous entity with legal personality and its own assets, subject to guidance by the Executive Branch through the Ministry of the Presidency and to oversight by the Office of the Comptroller General.

The Agency's initial assets include the Changuinola airport facilities and the 95 square kilometers of land area that delimit the district of Almirante, according to Article 7. The Board of Directors, regulated by Article 18, will be composed of seven members: two appointed by the Executive Branch, two representatives of area companies chosen with a proposal from the Bocas del Toro Governor's Office and the district council members, one director from the Bocas del Toro business sector, one representative of the labor sector and the legislator from circuit 1-1. Directors will receive an attendance fee of B/. 750.00 per session, increased by 30% because of the region's distance, under Article 20.

The organizational structure provides for five specialized directorates: Labor, Immigration and Social Security Affairs; Customs Affairs and Collection; Planning, Development and Environmental Affairs; Investor Assistance; and Airport and Port Operations. This reflects the comprehensive nature of a regime that aspires to territorially reorganize an area with more than 30,000 inhabitants. The Agency's operating surpluses would be distributed as follows: 60% to the Trust Fund for Development, 20% to the Ministry of Labor for training in Bocas del Toro and 20% to the Area Educational Assistance Fund, according to Article 8.

The initiative was sponsored by the Commerce and Economic Affairs Committee on February 20, 2025 and has been awaiting First Reading since March 25 of that year, with no scheduled date yet appearing. Critics say the project lacks the road and energy infrastructure support that such a zone would require, contrasting its situation with that of the ÁEEPP: while Panamá-Pacífico operates on land from the former Howard Base with access to the Arraiján-La Chorrera Highway, Almirante has only the Chiriquí Grande-Almirante road, frequently affected by landslides. The breadth of the project, 131 pages with a concessions regime of up to 40 years renewable for another 40, according to Article 15, and the political weight of its 20 sponsors will keep the proposal among the largest files on the commercial agenda of the 2024-2029 legislative period.

For its proponents, the initiative responds to the historic demand of a province that has remained, according to the explanatory memorandum itself, abandoned to its fate for more than 100 years, and faces high unemployment rates, with an economy concentrated in banana production and ecological tourism. Approval of the project will depend to a large extent on the public infrastructure investment commitments that the Executive Branch is willing to assume as a condition for the model's viability.