In her speech at the Plenary Hall, Tewaney claimed Panama reaffirms this principle in the context of the analysis of advances in technology, science and innovation, where “there is no room for unilateral measures such as the hostile and unjust U.S. blockade that still impacts on the Cuban brothers and sisters”.
In her speech, Tewaney also pointed out that it is critical to recognize that for all of us to have access to the same opportunities for development it is necessary to have timely access to the same methods and mechanisms of global financing, which will make it possible to benefit our peoples.
It is necessary to operate under the same conditions and rules, he added.
In conveying greetings on behalf of the Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo, Tewaney said that it is a great honor to represent her country in the homeland of José Martí.
She also praised Cuba’s leadership as pro tempore president of the G77+China, a bloc of developing States committed and aligned behind the same objective: the development and dignified life of all human beings.
In her speech, referring to the migratory crisis affecting the entire world, but particularly Panama, she pointed out some factors that drive it, such as unilateral punitive sanctions, lack of territorial control, ungovernability, high levels of violence and even climate change, and also called for solidarity and cooperation to face up with this scourge.
In Panama, she said, the effects of the migration crisis are seen daily in the Darien National Park, bordering Colombia, where we find migrants who die in their dangerous journey to reach the United States.
In this regard, she made a call that Darien is not a route and cannot be, while claiming that so far in 2023, four times more people have transited than during five years and it is expected that the number of migrants will reach 500,000 by the end of this year.
In this scenario, she indicated that governments should focus their public policies on the full development of their territories and what better leveler than technology and access to the same opportunities to close the inequality gaps in an increasingly complex world.
In this regard, Tewaney quoted General Omar Torrijos, who led the fight for sovereignty and the return of the Panama Canal, when he predicted that “our challenge continues to be equitable development”.
In that direction, she affirmed that Panama recognizes that within the G77+China it enjoys the support of important allies, “so we must look each other in the eye with confidence and strengthen South-South and triangular cooperation strategies as a vehicle for exchanging capacities in science, technology and innovation”.
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