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Address by His Excellency Mr Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, President of the Republic of Panama

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Address by His Excellency Mr Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, President of the Republic of Panama International Labour Conference Provisional Record 22 101st Session, Geneva, May–June 2012 Special sitting Tuesday, 12 June 2012, 11.35 a.m. President: Mr Alburquerque de Castro cial dialogue and we sincerely hope that this will ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY MR RICARDO continue in Panama. MARTINELLI BERROCAL, PRESIDENT OF THE As you know, Mr President, the ILO believes REPUBLIC OF PANAMA strongly that tripartism and social dialogue are the cornerstones of social peace and economic stability. Original Spanish: The PRESIDENT We are also aware of the efforts that your Gov- The International Labour Conference is honoured ernment is making to combat child labour, and of to receive the visit of His Excellency Mr Ricardo the priority you have been giving to job creation for Martinelli Berrocal, President of the Republic of young people. Panama. I now give the floor to the Secretary- We welcome the agreements with the indigenous General of the Conference, Mr Somavia, to wel- communities on mining and hydroelectricity and come and introduce our guest of honour. encourage the Government to ratify the Indigenous Original Spanish: The SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), so CONFERENCE that it might move forward on the basis of this Con- Mr Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, President of the vention. Republic of Panama, it is an honour to have you At a time when the world is engaged in polarized here with us, at this house of tripartism, at a time discussions on ways to solve the crisis and to estab- when your country is experiencing one of the most lish a growth model that is more sustainable, I am dynamic and long periods of growth in its history. pleased to note that your Government and the ILO The report published this week by the ILO and the agree on the same principles. Economic Commission for Latin America and the I would like to quote you, Mr President. You have Caribbean (ECLAC) shows that Panama is one of said that “we need to develop policies which en- the five countries in Latin America and the Carib- courage decent and well-paid work to ensure the bean which grew the most in 2011 – more than economic recovery of our countries. Austerity alone 10 per cent – and where there was the largest cut in cannot solve the malaise in the developed countries. urban unemployment. Extending the benefits of We require policies that meet the needs of individu- growth is a challenge, and one in which we should als and homes that make up the States.” like to support the Government. We could not agree more with these words. We Your experience as an entrepreneur has made it are convinced that the way to attain economies and possible for you to see first-hand the central role societies that are more prosperous, fair and sustain- that labour plays in the development of peoples and able, must necessarily be accompanied by decent society. work. Your years of work in social security brought you It is an honour, Mr President, to have you here into contact with the challenges that need to con- with us in this House. Your country has the distinc- fronted to ensure that a country has a sound system tion of having access to the two largest oceans on of social protection. the planet. At the beginning of the year, we heard the good Original Spanish: PRESIDENT news that your Government, the National Council I would now call upon our guest of honour, of Organized Workers (CONATU), the National Mr Martinelli, President of the Republic of Panama, Confederation of United Independent Unions to come to the podium to make his statement to the (CONUSI), and the National Council of Private En- Conference. terprise had started to establish priorities for a na- tional decent work programme. Original Spanish: Mr MARTINELLI BERROCAL (President of They also signed a tripartite agreement to the Republic of Panama) strengthen freedom of association and collective I should like to thank the ILO Director-General, bargaining in Panama. We hope that this will bear Mr Juan Somavia, and the International Labour Or- significant fruit, as this is vital for job creation, and ganization itself for inviting me here to speak at this we should also be very happy to assist you in this 101st Session of the International Labour Confer- area. ence. It is a great honour for me, for my Govern- This is a very important step forward because it ment and especially for tripartism in the Republic of has laid the basis for making further progress in so- Panama to accept this invitation. I should like to congratulate Mr Raphael Al- burquerque de Castro, who is President of this ses- 22/1 sion of the Conference and Vice-President of our try. That is why I have been proposing changes in sister nation, the Dominican Republic, to which we Panama of a kind that are unprecedented in the his- are linked by friendship, cooperation and affection. tory of the country. One of the greatest supporters of the ILO has been These changes have required a fundamental shift honoured by being given the presidency of this ses- in the economic and social policies to which we sion of the Conference. We extend our greetings to have been accustomed. Many economic groups the Officers of the Conference and to the represen- were reluctant to pay taxes and there are still some tatives of governments, workers and employers, as which resent having to pay. well as conveying greetings to them from the Gov- The statistics on growth show that the National ernment of Panama. Strategic Plan which we have been implementing is The Government of Panama also welcomes the beneficial for the people of Panama. This prosperity election of Mr Guy Ryder as the new ILO Director- places the responsibility on us to bridge the eco- General. Mr Ryder, the tripartite representatives of nomic and social divide between rich and poor. Ac- Panama wish you every success in tackling the chal- cordingly, we have managed to attract investment as lenges of a world gripped by an economic and fi- the means of creating decent work without cutting nancial crisis which has an impact on the Interna- labour costs. In 201,1 foreign direct investment to- tional Labour Organization in many ways. You can talled more than 3 billion dollars. count on the support of Panama in fulfilling your My administration has ratified free trade agree- mandate. ments which were on hold for many years. We have We would also extend warm greetings to the re- opened avenues to the biggest markets in the world, spective spokespersons of the Workers and Em- those of the United States, Asia and Europe, and ployers, Mr Luc Cortebeeck and Mr Daniel Funes this opening allows the involvement of new eco- de Rioja. We would also extend a fraternal greeting nomic players. During the negotiations for the free from the Government of Panama to the distin- trade agreements, we managed to gain preferential guished delegates representing the governments, access to the international markets. At the same workers and employers and express our gratitude to time, our strategic position has been strengthened you for having allowed us to address this 101st Ses- because we are now seeing an increase in invest- sion of the Conference. ment and in the provision of services. Panama has historic ties with the ILO. After Our economy is based on services, maritime ac- 16 years as an independent republic, we became one tivity, the logistical sector and all the sectors related of the founding member States of the ILO in 1919. to the Panama Canal and our geographical position. Today we continue to work according to the princi- This accounts for 14 per cent of GDP. Thanks to ple established in the ILO Constitution, that univer- our geographical position and infrastructure mod- sal and lasting peace can be established only if it is ernization, the provision of logistical services and based upon social justice. We uphold the principles transport via the Canal have made us one of the of the Declaration of Philadelphia, that freedom of world leaders in maritime transport. expression and of association are essential, that Panama will be what Singapore is to Asia, what poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity Hong Kong is to China, what New York is to finan- everywhere and hence we have to confront it to- cial services, what Switzerland means in terms of gether with unrelenting vigour. We recognize the international organizations and what Dubai signifies ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Global- for the Middle East. For these reasons, the expan- ization and the Decent Work Agenda as fair and sion of the Canal will enable us to strengthen our relevant. role in international trade and create new opportuni- We support the promotion of employment, skills ties for business. development, sustainable enterprises and economic For the first time in the country’s history, the “big growth, as well as expanding social security and three” risk rating agencies have raised Panama’s worker protection and promoting social dialogue status to investment grade. We have come off all the and tripartism. blacklists, grey lists, dark lists which we used to be We are facing a global crisis and a crisis in glob- on because of our status as a tax haven, signing alization. This obliges us to adopt protective meas- double taxation treaties with over a dozen OECD ures and implement economic policies that stimu- countries. Finally, I am proud to announce that late growth and social development.
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