Conusi Is Invited By President CortizoTo Participate In Bicentennial Pact

The National Confederation of Independent Trade Union Unity ( Conusi) was formally invited, this Monday, November 23, by the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen , to participate in the Bicentennial Pact “Closing Gaps” , a process of citizen participation that seeks reach a consensus with all sectors of the country on proposals for solutions to the main problems afflicting the Panamanian nation.

“The objective of this meeting is to invite you to participate in a dialogue process called the Bicentennial Pact ‘Closing Gaps’. And the concept of closing gaps is handled by you better than many of us, we are talking about closing gaps from a social point of view, ”said Cortizo Cohen.

In addition, he asked the representatives of the Conusi to designate two of its members to integrate them to the Advisory Council that he will constitute to advise him on this issue.

The President specified that this is a different process from other dialogues , because it will grant a period of two months for the direct participation of people who wish to “contribute, propose solutions that are concrete and viable.”

He recalled that the other dialogues that have taken place in the country begin directly with the different tables in which the topics to be discussed are addressed.

This new modality will be feasible, added the President, through a simple and interactive platform called Ágora, and detailed to the leaders of the various unions attached to the Conusi that the Bicentennial Pact “Closing Gaps” will include 11 topics with their respective subtopics, and a twelfth point to include miscellaneous matters.

Cortizo Cohen indicated that the financial situation of the Disability, Old Age and Death program of the Social Security Fund (CSS) will be discussed in parallel to the agreement process of the Bicentennial Pact “Closing Gaps”.

The president stressed that in this process, “the concept of closing gaps cannot get out of our mind… It is the pact ‘Closing Gaps’ ; the bicentennial is a conjuncture, but closing gaps is the commitment, it is the mission, it is the process. We will lay the foundations for other governments, so closing gaps is the great mission ”.

Genaro López, general secretary of Conusi , said that the country has many problems to which solutions must be found.

“We believe that through dialogue they can be resolved, as long as that dialogue bears fruit, since in other dialogues in which we have participated they listen to us, but in the end they impose what the governments have had as their goal,” he said.

“That the proposals of the population be listened to and that they be implemented in order to solve their needs,” the union leader stressed.
Accompanying the president were: Paulina Franceshi, coordinator of the Bicentennial Pact “Closing Gaps”; Doris Zapata, Minister of Labor and Labor Development (Mitradel); and Rafael Mezquita, spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic.

Last Thursday, November 19, the president met with the leadership of the National Council of Organized Workers (Conato), a group made up of nine unions that bring together more than 200 thousand workers, in order to summon them to participate in the Pact of Bicentennial “Closing Gaps”.

The National Government set for this Thursday, November 26, the launch of the Bicentennial Pact “Closing Gaps” , a process of citizen participation in which issues of national interest will be addressed with all sectors of the country, (business, worker, political and governmental), in order to achieve consensus and agreements.