The President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, clarified this Thursday that there will be no restrictions on the import of medicines, apart from those already established in article 358 of Executive Decree No. 27 of May 10, 2024.
The president’s remarks come after the reactions to Communiqué No. 111 of the National Directorate of Pharmacy and Drugs – released in response to the aforementioned decree -, in which it was reported on the restrictions to introduce cosmetics and medicines to Panama through courier / messenger services, or by travelers from abroad.
“If the person travels and brings the medicines he needs for consumption, he cannot be banned,” President Mulino stressed during his press conference every Thursday. “If I can do it, the Panamanian people can do it,” he added.
The National Government, through the National Directorate of Pharmacy and Drugs of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), will control imports for commercial purposes and will simplify these controls for personal purposes, either for travelers or courier shipments.
In response to the president’s call, the Minister of Health, Fernando Boyd Galindo, issued a clarification on Communiqué No. 111. “We want to clarify that no patient, national or tourist, who imports their medicines or cosmetics for personal use in the terms established in article 385 of Executive Decree 27 of May 10, 2024, will lose them, nor will they be confiscated,” explains the minister.
It is also clarified that the intention of Communiqué No. 111 is “to guide users to whom the National Customs Authority has withheld some medicines or cosmetics at the airport or who are requested authorization through courier / courier, on the documentation they must present for their recovery, since many of them expressed frustration at not knowing which instance to contact, or what documents to present to reacquire their medicines or cosmetics.”
The Minsa adds that no new requirement or additional procedure has been established to those already set out in article 358 of Decree 27, but that an attempt has been made to make an easy-to-understand guide on the existing requirements required by the National Directorate of Pharmacy and Drugs to quickly recover the medicines and cosmetics retained.
Panama 3.0 results
After the start of actions for the Panama 3.0 security operation, the president stressed that in five days 275 raids were carried out, in which 910 people were apprehended, 416 packages of drugs were seized and 29 firearms were removed from circulation. In addition, in Chiriquí, 9 people were arrested for car theft.
The results of this operation – as well as other actions, such as Operation Capibara (to combat cases of extortion in the process of appointments in the educational sector) and Operation Obra Gris (which detected facts of extortion in construction projects) – were weighted by the president as part of his security policy.
He said that he has instructed the state security forces to continue working incessantly to recover the neighborhoods.
Delegation to France
The president also revealed the names of those who will be part of the delegation that will accompany him, this Saturday, to France for a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.
The team is made up of the foreign minister, Javier Martínez-Acha; the general director of Revenue, Camilo Valdés; the superintendent of Banks, Milton Ayón; the presidential advisor Miguel Antonio Bernal and the lawyer Carlos Raúl Moreno.
The topics to be discussed in the meeting with President Macron are bilateral relations, relations with the European Union and the exit of Panama from the discriminatory lists.
President Mulino anticipated that he will schedule another trip to Europe in the first months of 2025, to continue his effort to clear the name of Panama and strengthen relations with countries of the old continent.
Commitments to the indigenous peoples
Regarding the recent meeting he had with the 13 chiefs of the indigenous regions of the country, President Mulino said that, together with the Minister of the Government, Dinoska Montalvo, the requests of these communities will be evaluated.
At that meeting, the General Plan of Traditional Government of the Ngäbe Buglé region was given to the Executive, and the needs of the original peoples were known, such as roads, bridges, fords and schools.
“The hand of the State has to be close to those unprotected sectors,” the president stressed.
Government will take project of the Panama-David Train to Paso Canoas
The governor also announced that the National Government will make an effort to take the Panama-David Train project, one of the flagship projects of his administration, to the Paso Canoas sector, on the border with Costa Rica.
In his Thursday conference, President Mulino stressed that the efforts to make this work a reality, which involves a long process, “is going well,” and among other things, work is being done on the formation of the legal, economic and financial structure that will sustain the project, whose investment is estimated at more than 4 billion balboas.
“The figures range between 4 billion and 4.5 billion dollars, Panama-Paso Canoas, due to the strategic position on the border, and what the president of Costa Rica told me in terms of mobilizing their exports through the train to Panama, in part; we will make the effort to take it to Paso Canos and we are in that design,” said the president, highlighting that the route given by the Chinese Government is being updated.
As part of the efforts, he mentioned that the director of the Railway, Henry Faarup Mauad, has been touring Asia and Europe visiting companies, since there are multiple railway-related companies in the world interested in the Panama project, and on which the National Government is already evaluating access to financing.
On the other hand, he mentioned that Panama is also seeing multilateral banks issues related to project financing, and highlighted the support that the English Government has already offered of 5 billion pounds sterling, precisely for works “with the commitment that 20% is English products.”
“I’m going to start a path to deepen and deepen relations with the United Kingdom. We have always had good relationships. I don’t say no, but we have never had more, so I have asked the chancellor to make a space, a time to deepen the relationship with the United Kingdom and, later, at some point, I will visit them, in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation with them,” he said.
Another issue addressed by President Mulino was the use he has given to the discretionary game in the government so far. In this regard, he indicated that the reports, for transparency, will be published on the website of the Ministry of the Presidency. However, he said that the funds used so far have been to provide assistance to adults and children with serious health problems, who suffer from cancer or require a transplant, and not for cosmetic surgeries.
He also detailed that funds have been allocated to the repair of structures in the Presidential Palace, including the Los Tamarindos Hall – cultural heritage – and the presidential office, infested with comején and with leak problems.
On the other hand, before citizen consultation made by social networks about the payment of scholarships to children by Ifarhu, the president indicated that the entity has already announced the process of paying the Pass-U, and then continuing with the competition scholarships, since thanks to the containment of bureaucratic expenses, around 85 million balboas were available to fulfill these commitments, including international scholarships, which have been awarded for merit and meeting the requirements, so students will no longer have to return to the country.
There are 560,000 checks and 220 thousand ACH payments that are made, and it is contemplated for next year, with the support of the National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG), the digitization of these processes so that these payments can be made by ACH “with more control and certainty of payment to the beneficiaries,” said the president.