During the Inauguration of the Regional Logistic Center for Humanitarian assistance, the Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, led the High Level Dialogue of Countries of the Americas on "Unified Actions of Good Governance to Face the Regional Challenges of Humanitarian Aid".
The Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs and International Cooperation, María Luisa Navarro, presented the origin and development of this initiative that today became a reality. It is a center for the collection and distribution of humanitarian aid that will allow necessary help to reach places affected by any humanitarian emergency in the shortest time possible.
Representatives of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); of the United Nations Humanitarian Response Deposit, both as international users, and the national civil protection system, (SINAPROC) valued this contribution from Panama as a timely and effective response for the coordination of the delivery of aid and the rescue of victims of catastrophes. The center will be used to coordinate the cooperation that the countries receive, and will be used as the base from which the aid will be transferred to the international community.
In addition, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) led an open dialogue in which participants from different countries and regional organizations such as the Mesoamerica Project, the Central American Integration System and the Association of Caribbean States, praised Panama for placing itself at the center of international humanitarian aid.
To conclude the Vice President and Foreign Minister reiterated her gratitude to the countries and international organizations that contributed to the creation of the Regional Logistics Center for Humanitarian Assistance in Panama. Panama offers to the world its geostrategic position, air, maritime and terrestrial connectivity, its dynamic logistics industry and its historical vocation as a country at the service of the world in developing this important initiative, a first of its kind in America.