President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), reaffirmed his confidence in Panama. “At the IDB we believe that the possibilities are endless for Panama, this country is not only a global treasure for its beauty and biodiversity, but it is also a hub for the hemisphere and the world to be a logistics and transportation hub.
The President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, highlighted this Thursday morning the potential of Panama as the main logistics center in Latin America at the opening of the high-level multisectoral forum, organized by the National Government , in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The Panamanian president indicated that "Panama offers a unique value proposition as the main logistics center in Latin America in which he highlighted the exceptional connectivity thanks to our geographical position, the Panama Canal and the logistics assets.
"Panama has the best air and maritime connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean, with ports on the coasts of two oceans, a transcontinental railway, airports, logistics parks, special economic zones and free zones," said the Chief Executive during the opening of the forum “Panama: The Center of America and its role in strengthening regional value chains”.
He argued that the country "has played a key role in world trade'', in that sense he said that "we have learned to recognize and appreciate the value of supply chains and the importance of making them more resilient for the benefit of the countries of our region”.
Cortizo Cohen also stated that during his administration he supports nearshoring processes as an essential strategic component for the economic recovery agenda in the post-pandemic stage.
“We have opted for the creation and promotion of special regimes through the issuance of laws that grant corporate, tax, labor and immigration benefits. As a result, more than 177 multinationals have established offices in our country, which strengthens our competitiveness as a reliable destination for foreign investment”, said Cortizo Cohen.
He highlighted that before the pandemic Panama was one of the fastest growing countries in the region, capturing around 43% of all foreign direct investment.
In this sense, he maintained that "even though the pandemic caused a strong economic and social impact worldwide, bringing new challenges, today we feel optimistic and trust that we will resume the pace of growth in the coming years."
As a Government, we will continue to take firm steps to consolidate the stability of our country as a friendly place for business and good investments, he indicated.
"Panama maintains its firm and determined commitment to collaborate with the strengthening of supply chains and to work for regional development with stability, security, sustainability and respect to expand opportunities for mutual growth in the region," concluded Cortizo Cohen.
Ramón Martínez, Minister of Commerce and Industry, said that "Latin America has a great opportunity ahead and Panama, within the region, is taking concrete actions, fostering constant multilateral and multisectoral dialogue, to position itself as a destination for investments in insurance of supply chains, of strategic industries and as an ally of the nations of the hemisphere that seek to advance prosperity and collective security”,
The president of the IDB, Mauricio Claver-Carone, reaffirmed his confidence in the country.
“We are experiencing the largest realignment of global supply chains in history. This opened up a unique opportunity to attract more and better investments, and Panama is in a privileged position to do so. At the IDB we are proud to work with the Government of Panama in organizing the investment forum in 2022, as we promised six months ago. We are making all our financial and technical resources available to attract investment to the country and, together, drive the kind of inclusive and sustainable growth that all Panamanians deserve,” said President Claver-Carone.
He added that this investment forum demonstrates the capacity of the IDB and the Government to be able to collaborate together to produce concrete results, pointing out that if the country could capture only 1% of the imports that the United States makes from outside the Americas -of products that Panama exports- could generate US$1.9 billion of additional exports.
“At the IDB we believe that the possibilities are endless for Panama, this country is not only a global treasure for its beauty and biodiversity, but it is also a hub for the hemisphere and the world to be a logistics and transportation hub. The door between the Pacific and the Atlantic”, he limited.
The forum "Panama: The Center of America and its role in strengthening regional value chains", had a virtual audience of more than 500 participants, most of them CEOs of renowned companies in the continent.
The event featured panelists from the public and private sectors of the world's leading business consortiums, who with their success stories were able to delve into the country's competitive advantages.
The intervention of the Panamanian authorities and the representative of the IDB was joined by the panel moderated by Ana Margarita Reyes, coordinator of the Logistics Cabinet of Panama, which was made up of Enrique Aguirre, General Director for the Central America and Caribbean Region of 3M ; Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines; Niurka Montero, General Manager of Dell Technologies – Panama; and Ricaurte Vásquez, CEO/Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).
Likewise, a second panel was developed, made up of Vivian Carles, CEO – Panama of Grupo Bimbo; Juan Fernando Posada, president of P&G Latin America; Aimeé Sentmat de Grimaldo, president of Banistmo; Fabia Tetteroo-Bueno, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Philips Latin America; and Carmen Gisela Vergara, Executive Director of ProPanamá, who acted as moderator. The conclusions of the meeting were given by Rocío Medina Bolívar, IDB representative in Panama.