First of all, I thank God and the Virgin Mary for making it possible for us to gather here, and I ask them to enlighten the work of this session.
I would like to convey to the General Assembly the greetings of His Excellency Mr. Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, President of the Republic of Panama, who has delegated me to represent our country here today.
Our country firmly supports the important themes proposed for consideration at this session of the General Assembly. We share the view that, in order to overcome the global health crisis and move forward in the transition to a post-pandemic world, we must promote creative solutions and share a greater degree of solidarity and support, using science as a fundamental ally to confront the challenges facing humankind. Knowledge, research and education are the tools required to ensure that transition, especially in nations with high levels of poverty, where millions continue to be deprived of the opportunity to live a dignified life. Too many people continue to starve; meanwhile, others suffer from indigestion. Withholding knowledge instead of sharing it is a selfish act.
The current Government of the Republic of Panama has been at the helm of the country for 38 months, 30 of them during the pandemic. No other Administration in the history of Panama has been confronted with such complex challenges. In that regard, we concentrated our efforts on saving lives, preventing the collapse of the health system and maintaining social peace. Two and a half years later, we are on the threshold of recovering from the damage caused by the global health crisis, and we continue to make progress. We are capable of achieving exceptional outcomes that we can share with the world.
Our national strategic plan was conceived with a particular objective in mind: fighting the causes of poverty and inequality. Our Government’s leadership rests on our commitment to laying the foundations for profound transformations. While our country is indeed experiencing robust growth, it also faces unacceptable inequality, and we are working tenaciously and tirelessly to combat that reality. Our Administration seeks to lay the foundations for a fairer country, consolidate democracy and strengthen the independence of the judiciary. For the first time in the history of our country, as Head of the Government, the President waived his prerogative to unilaterally appoint the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice and established a system of independent evaluation based on professional merit. Also for the first time in the history of our country, the majority of the judges on the Supreme Court of Justice are women, and none of them has any relationship, link or subordination to the President of the Republic.
In Panama as in the rest of the world, we had to face the pandemic. Protecting human lives, especially those of the most vulnerable, was our primary mission. We deployed creativity and innovation to develop technological instruments that enabled us to serve our population directly, openly and equitably. We transformed Panama’s national identity card into an instrument for transferring resources — a free debit card, in fact.
We were the first country on the continent to implement a centralized tracing and monitoring system for communicable diseases, which registers every case
of infection in real time in our national epidemiological surveillance system.
We stopped students’ learning processes from being disrupted during the lockdown period by using the strategy for resilient educational transformation computer platform, known as ESTER. We guarantee free internet access to the vast majority of students, including those in remote communities.
We are currently overseeing the development of the MedicApp platform, an innovative digital database that keeps citizens informed in real time about the availability of medicines, as well as points of sale and comparative prices. We are willing to share those experiences and achievements — which have been recognized by international organizations, including the United Nations — with the international community.
I fully share with our President Cortizo the belief that dialogue, participation and consensus build social peace. To cite a concrete example, at the height of the pandemic, we promoted a bicentennial pact initiative on the theme of closing gaps, designed as a point of contact for Panamanian society, as a way to develop a framework for how it sees itself in the future — and we see a country with a common good for all that is prosperous, safe and lives in peace. A total of 186,182 proposals were freely presented as possible solutions to problems encountered in the population. From that broad consultation, there have emerged national agreements that respond to the real concerns of the Panamanian people and transcend governmental term periods.
The destabilization of fuel prices also led to demonstrations and protests in Panama, primarily owing to the increase in the costs of food, medicine and gasoline. Instead of confrontation, President Cortizo opted for dialogue. Nobody in our country lost their life during those protests. Our governing style has enabled agreement and consensus where the deepest needs of the population are concerned. Our national Government has articulated concrete provisions and measures. And it is very important to point out that we have been able to ensure social peace. In the global context, dialogue is the only way to reduce the space for extremism.
Accessible medicine is the difference between life and death. President Cortizo has decided to confront that issue with courage and political will. To that end, he instructed me to establish and organize our country’s national Commission of Medicines with a view to securing a supply of medicines for our population, with prices much lower than the current ones. The pharmaceutical industry, including the production, supply and distribution of medicines in the world, is supposed to contribute to people’s health; however, we note with concern that millions of people cannot access medicines. That access has become a cold, businesslike exchange. The oligopolies earn disproportionately high profits from the medicines they distribute and sell to both Governments and private individuals. Such a system, which is shameful for humankind, cannot continue.
It is everyone’s responsibility — and we must examine and address the global implications — to ensure that access to medicines is valued as a human right and not as an expensive luxury commodity. Panama calls on the General Assembly to adopt a global initiative to solve the issue of the excessively high prices of medicines and their inaccessibility to the people of the world.
Panama is in fact a transit country for irregular migration. Thousands of people transit through the Darien Gap jungle crossing on the border with Colombia. It is a dangerous and treacherous crossing, where people risk their lives, get sick and die. We are not just a transit country for migration. Also included in that context are criminal organizations engaged in the nefarious business of human trafficking. Our Government has adopted a State policy for addressing and providing assistance to migrants, with a particular emphasis on humanity and solidarity. We emphasize that the possible solutions to this painful and regrettable situation can be provided by the origin countries, whose poverty and social marginalization determine irregular migration, as well as those of us are affected by the transits, especially the countries of destination.
Our Government believes that the current development model must be transformed to take into account the value of biodiversity and to promote healthy and sustainable ecosystems. Panama is one of the three carbon-negative countries in the world. Some 35 per cent of our national territory and 30.5 per cent of our seas have been declared as natural protected areas. More than 80 per cent of our electricity generation comes from renewable sources. In July of this year alone, we achieved a new historic record: 95 per cent of the energy generated to supply our national matrix was clean energy. Our country ranks eighth in the world for clean-energy generation.
President Cortizo’s energy transition agenda has strengthened Panama’s global leadership in combating
climate change. Panamanians have a historical awareness of the value of our geographic position because of the presence of the Panama Canal and the role it plays in the world economy. We are a country with a mission to protect its natural resources.
Young people are harshly critical of the many forums, summits and declarations on climate change and the preservation of the environment and natural resources that continue to be held while emissions and deforestation increase without restraint, along with the contamination of water, aquifers, rivers and oceans. How can we win the trust of new generations while the planet where we live, and our descendants will have to live, is being destroyed before their eyes? How many more lives must be lost? How many more natural disasters must take place? I wonder: when are they going to stop the ecocide? From this rostrum, we remind the big emitters of gases, those that encourage deforestation and those that dump chemicals that pollute and kill, that it is matter of the survival of the Earth and the species that inhabit it. Today, before this gathering of nations, Panama proposes that the time has come for the world to have an international body to hold all those that inflict damage on the planet accountable.
The future depends on every decision that we take now. It is no longer viable to take the wrong direction and then try to correct it. The path of conflict and war leads to more calamities and disasters. It is the wrong path.
Because of its geography and ethnic and cultural diversity, Panama is a country of openness and common ground. Situated at one of the main maritime corridors in the world, at the centre of the American continent, we Panamanians are always ready to serve humankind, as we have done for centuries.
Today, before the General Assembly, we want to resolutely say to the world that it depends, and will always depend, on Panama. The times we live in have changed. The world that was is no more. Ahead of us, we have the challenge of building another world — a better world, with answers to ensure human health and life on this planet, which is our home, a world with greater solidarity and peace. We must succeed. United, we will always be much stronger.