Ban Ki-moon will meet with UN staff in Panama, under the Seventh Summit of the Americas

UNITED NATIONS (UNIC) Panama, April 8, 2015 Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, will meet this Friday with regional and national UN personnel based in Panama, to exchange ideas on the future of the organization and its impact on the development of the Americas, within the framework of his participation at the VII Summit of the Americas.

The Secretary-General will arrive tomorrow to participate as an observer at the Summit, along with heads of international organizations such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), among others.

At the meeting with the UN staff, it is expected the participation of both regional and national personnel, as well as special guests. The event will be private and is scheduled for Friday April 10th at 10:45 hrs. at the Ateneo in The City of Knowledge.

The second official mission of Ban Ki-moon in Panama denotes the growing presence of the United Nations in the Americas, nine years after the UN officially declared Panama as Regional Hub (June 2007).

It should be noted that during his first official mission in Latin America and the Caribbean (June, 2007) the Secretary-General toured the campus of the City of Knowledge, near the Panama Canal, which now houses about 26 offices of the UN System and international organizations, 24 NGOs, 35 academic centers and 90 private sector companies, among other actors working for development at an international level.

During his visit, the Secretary-General will also hold several bilateral meetings, among them one with the President of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela.

 

About the Seventh Summit of the Americas

Panama will host the Seventh Summit of the Americas on 10 and 11 April 2015, whose theme is "Prosperity with Equity: The Challenge of Cooperation in the Americas". The meeting will focus on the axes of health, education, environment, energy, security, migration, democratic governance and citizen participation.

Within the framework of the Summit, there will be four forums that will bring together representatives of civil society, youth, entrepreneurs and presidents of universities from all participant countries, to discuss the same topics to be addressed by the presidents attending the Summit so they can submit recommendations to the governments.

Panama introduced a number of innovations for this hemispheric meeting such as extending an invitation, for the first time, to all Heads of State and Government of the Americas. The continental competition has received confirmations of attendance from governments of the 35 countries in the region, including Cuba and the United States.

For further information please contact:
Jiesselinde L. González, Information Officer jiesselinde.gonzalez@unic.org or unic.panama@unic.org;
Humberto Jaime jaime@un.org ;
Alejandra Arauz alejandra.arauz@undp.org
or Janibeth Miranda jamiranda@unicef.org