CADE 2001:

"Panama faces the world: a strategy for foreign trade"

by Willy Carrera Loza

"Panama faces the world: a strategy for foreign trade" will be the theme of this year's Annual Executives' Conference (CADE), which the National Association of Business Executives (APEDE) will be holding at the Caesar Park on April 26, 27 and 28. APEDE's executive director, Ariel Alba Rincón, told The Panama News that that this conference will take stock of a country that's "confronted with the historic opportunity to maximize the use of our geographical position, to present Panama with an integrated foreign trade strategy that takes into account exports of both goods and services, and to attract foreign investment."

Alba Rincón noted that CADE's mission is "to serve as a forum for discussions, to identify comparative and competitive advantages in different sectors of the economy, and to evaluate the roles that the support institutions must play, with an aim toward obtaining commitments to carry out a foreign trade strategy that will allow the country to broaden its international trade relationships and consequently improve our population's social and economic levels." He said that people shouldn't talk of pessimism in the business sector, when that's the sector that's offering alternative solutions to the nation's problems. "You shouldn't rush to judge something when you're not sure about it," he warned, alluding to President Moscoso's challenge to business leaders to demonstrate their claims that the country's economic development is weak.

The annual CADE conferences began in 1966 and over the years have contributed in various ways to specific measures and general public and private sector strategies that have solved a number of national problems, Alba Rincón said. Last year's conference, about confronting poverty in a sustainable way, drew urban and rural community groups, business executives and labor leaders, the church, academia and civil society generally together to search for alternatives. APEDE's executive director called last year's experience "a great national forum" that boosted economic growth in a year that was difficult for business, and expressed hope that CADE 2001 will surpass people's expectations.

The panel discussions and presentations, whose subjects were chosen by a committee headed by Mario Jaramillo, include globalization, a diagnosis of our foreign trade, Panama's foreign policy, trademarks, attracting investment, international negotiations and agreements, competitiveness in the productive sectors, Panama's service and financial sectors, and foreign trade strategies. Some of the speakers will be Costa Rica's vice-minister of trade, Anabelle González; former APEDE president Roberto Henríquez; Morgan & Morgan's Carlos González; Diana Salazar from Vicomex; Panama's vice-minister of commerce Melitón Arrocha. Invited, but yet to be confirmed as CADE speakers, are a former president of Costa Rica and President Moscoso.