UK highlights Panama’s investment opportunities and facilities in ‘green’ infrastructure

Baroness Gloria Dorothy Hooper, Trade Envoy to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament, is visiting Panama in search of strengthening trade and investment relations between the two countries in areas such as “green growth”, education and security.

As part of his program, Hooper will meet with the Chancellor of the Republic, Janina Tiwani Menkomo, with whom he will discuss some aspects of the bilateral relationship in terms of “green growth” and sustainability, which emerge from the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries. in 2022. Hopper will be in the country from May 30 to June 1, 2023.

Another important item on the agenda is the implementation of the existing Partnership Agreement between the United Kingdom and Central America, which regulates trade relations and cooperation between Great Britain and the subregion.

On Tuesday, May 31, he participated in the “Green Growth: The Challenge of Sustainability” conference organized jointly by the British Embassy and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). “I’m here (in Panama) now to push the program a little bit (…) and give the message not only to the people of Panama, but also to Central America,” Hooper said.

In her remarks, the Baroness also highlighted the progress the Central American country has made in terms of green growth and sustainable development.

“Panama has many opportunities and facilities. It is a country of beauty, it is a green country, and we all over the world are looking at it to see how best to move this cause forward. I congratulate Panama for everything it is doing, because it is one of the most influential countries in this,” she said. British Baroness.

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“Panama has many opportunities and facilities. It is a country of beauty, it is a green country, and we all over the world are looking at it to see how best to move this cause forward.” Baroness Gloria Dorothy Hopper
Trade Envoy to the UK Prime Minister

The conference seeks to enhance local and regional discussion of specific topics such as green hydrogen, electric mobility, waste management, and sustainable infrastructure. In this regard, the Undersecretary of the National Energy Ministry, Roselina Lindo Riggs, said that Panama is a country in which more than 80% of the electricity it generates is green, which is why it is important to prepare a legal framework for public policies, to be a country that not only produces green hydrogen, but also produces Green ammonia, green e-methanol, and kerosene.

“They are the future alternatives to fossil fuels for the sea, air and land sectors. Diesel trucks and heavy equipment can use green hydrogen as a 100% clean energy source that comes from renewable water and electricity.

For her part, the Baroness stressed that to achieve the goal of sustainability in the world, all countries have to cooperate, because if only one of them does good things, it will not be worth as much as everyone else following suit.

“This is what Panama has, it is an example for the whole world,” Hooper said, stressing that in the face of this sustainability, the UK has energy transformation (energy transition) and decarbonization infrastructure projects.

Carlos Moreno, Director of CABEI in Panama, said there is a need to adopt steps and take action to promote projects and programs that effectively promote sustainability, promote growth, but not at the expense of the global world, but rather take care of it. Environment and this really honors the word sustainability.

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In this sense, Moreno explained that CABEI is very committed to Panama in all these developments and that one of the cross-cutting axes is environmental and social sustainability, effectively making resources of all kinds available to countries; “Whether it is resources for cooperation, for analysis and studies, for financing, but more than that, accompanying the main actors to be able to promote programs and projects that have an effective impact on growth and development, but also do not have a negative impact on the environment.

Regarding the progress in Panama, he commented that the authorities are working on various initiatives and there is a well-defined path, but it must certainly be put into practice. “This is being done in the best way possible, but it is important to involve all actors, private, public and institutional, so that it progresses in a better way and the effects are increasingly seen. The challenge is to continue to push them into action,” he said.

At the same time, he noted, CABEI has been financing infrastructure projects in Latin America and Central America for more than 60 years, and in recent years it has become more effective. Thus, approximately 40% of the funding awarded is related to global sustainability, green growth, renewable energy, and energy shortages.

“The bank’s portfolio is about $8,000 million or $9,000 million, and in recent years (financed) projects that have been linked to environmental and sustainability issues have amounted to about $2,000 million in the region,” Moreno said.

He added that CABEI is increasingly focusing on promoting this type of project. Indeed, in 2016 and 2019 the Board of Governors, its highest authority, issued statements specifically to promote and motivate the Bank to play an increasingly transcendent role in supporting this type of project.

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CABEI is a multilateral bank founded in 1960 by the countries of the region, and today it includes 15 countries in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic. Among other things.

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