José Raúl Mulino: "Our people ask us to work more on coincidences than on differences"

The President of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, stressed the importance of privileging dialogue and regional cooperation. "Our peoples ask us to work more on coincidences than on differences. Panama is not a competitor of the countries, but a complement to their economies and the canal is at the service of Latin America and the Caribbean," he said. The president also expressed his gratitude to CAF and the leaders present for the joint efforts to promote a shared regional agenda.

Mulino also stressed that Panama is a strategic country because of its canal and ports, which make it a key global gateway for North America, South America, Asia and Europe, and that this position has been fundamental to its international relevance.

The inaugural session of the Forum was led by Sergio Díaz-Granados, CAF's Executive President, together with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil; Rodrigo Paz, President of Bolivia; Daniel Noboa, President of Ecuador; Bernardo Arévalo, President of Guatemala; Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia; Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica; and the President-elect of Chile, José Antonio Kast.

During his speech, Sergio Díaz-Granados, CAF's executive president, underscored the historic nature of the meeting and the need to strengthen regional integration in the face of global challenges. "This Forum was created to think about how we can give our nations the necessary coordination capabilities and how we can strengthen our region, integrating among ourselves and with the rest of the world. In the midst of fragmentation, we need broad, bold and high-impact spaces for reflection to align positions, add geopolitical protagonism, and provide the region with its own voice to contribute concrete solutions and courses of action".

Díaz-Granados also highlighted CAF's role in supporting countries in solving regional problems and its expansion plans for the next five years: "We have the foundations to achieve exponential growth of our portfolio: we aspire to expand the bank by at least 70% by 2031, which means close to USD 100 billion in new approvals, and at least 20% of them for the private sector".

For his part, Mulino closed his opening remarks with a strong call to deepen integration among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: "Let us continue united as we are today, strengthening our economies and our friendships, to be a counterweight of peace, dialogue and global balance".

The Forum will bring together heads of state and government, ministers, business leaders, representatives of international organizations and academics to discuss the main challenges and opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean, with more than 6,000 people from 70 countries registered.

The agenda includes key issues such as economic growth, regional integration, sustainability, investment, inclusion and competitiveness, with the aim of building, from dialogue, concrete solutions that promote the development of the region.