The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Panama will jointly formulate a strategy to develop a pharmaceutical hub in Panama; a corresponding document was signed today at the UNIDO Headquarters in Vienna by Hiroshi Kuniyoshi, Managing Director and Deputy to the Director General, and Anabella Maria Guardia de Rubinoff, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Panama to UNIDO.

“Panama aims to capitalize on its existing geographic and market access advantages related to the expanded Panama Canal,” said Guardia de Rubinoff. “The cooperation will produce a feasibility report to expand Panama’s role as a regional pharmaceutical centre as well as a strategy and an action plan for the development of the hub.”

“Today marks the opening of a further chapter in the already close and cordial relationship between the Government of Panama and UNIDO,” said Kuniyoshi. “Together, we can also explore opportunities to integrate backwards into the manufacture of finished pharmaceutical products as well as possible into research and development of new, innovative medicines.”

For more than 13 years, UNIDO has been involved in fostering local pharmaceutical production in developing and least developed countries through advisory and capacity building interventions that seek to strengthen the operating environment for pharmaceutical manufacturers, with the ultimate objective to improve access to quality medicines and hence make a positive contribution to public health and industrial development objectives at the same time.