Taking measures to reactivate the productive sectors, make better use of public-private partnerships and boost tourism is part of what the private sector expects from the Panamanian government in the coming year.

Six months before the Cortizo administration takes office, Panama‘s business sector is asking it to make the decisions the economy needs to be able to continue on the path of development, and above all, not to lose competitiveness both domestically and in relation to its peers in the region, and to be able to continue to attract foreign investment.

From the statement of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama:

December 21st, 2018. Christmas is a celebration that exalts the value of friendship among nations, as well as solidarity among people, calling us to recognize in it a bond of brotherhood with the neediest.

2019 leaves among us encouraging signs of what the country can expect in 2020. With the renewal of the public powers after the mid-year general elections, and in virtue of the willingness shown by the Executive to amend past mistakes in terms of appointments to high offices, it is possible to aspire during this Christmas season to see, finally, a harmonious, and not a submissive, collaboration among the institutions of the State, as the Constitution of the Republic mandates.

Let us ask this Christmas that the aforementioned style of government empowers the leadership that Panama needs to achieve strategic social and economic goals. With regard to the latter, we must promptly reactivate the different production sectors, both to contain their deterioration and to expand and strengthen our internal and regional competitiveness, which is necessary to attract capital and generate employment. This will be possible to the extent that responsible decisions are taken, especially with respect to the minimum wage.

This Christmas, let us Panamanians wish for State policies that achieve the modernizing transformation of our education, aware as we are that this is a task of national and long-term dimensions, to which we must all contribute with a sense of commitment and a vision of destiny. In view of this, the current administration has an immense challenge for the next four and a half years, the results of which we will all be aware of.

Let us also ask to move from expectations to concrete facts in order to convert tourism into the factor of progress that it can be, given the great wealth that the country can contribute to its development. We also have to start taking advantage of the benefits of Public-Private Partnerships as much as possible, especially to generate sources of employment in the interior of the country.

That as a society and as a State, we assume the responsibility to prevent the damages that determine climate change, which threatens the existence of life itself on the Planet. That we learn that, through saving water and energy, we protect our natural resources and contribute to the fight against global warming.