Cooperatives: Sustainable Development with Social Equity
The Regional Administration Council and the Regional Directorate of ICA-Americas, as well as the staff of the Regional Office, together with the National Council of Cooperatives of Panama (CONALCOOP), the Panamanian Autonomous Cooperative Institute (IPACOOP) and the staff of these institutions , want to express their deepest and sincere gratitude to all the participants in the II Cooperative Summit of the Americas "Cooperatives: Sustainable Development with Social Equity", held in Panama City from May 28 to 1 June 2012.
We are aware of the great effort, both personal and organizational, that being present at this event has involved for everyone. Their experiences and contributions to the debates raised their quality, making this II Summit the most important cooperative event of this year, the International Year of Cooperatives, thus strengthening the contribution of the regional cooperative movement to the construction of a sustainable development with social equity, which was evident in the commitments assumed and embodied in the final Declaration of the Summit.
There were 5 days of intense work with 32 different types of activities: meetings, seminars, forums, workshops, work tables and press conferences, which revealed the immense desire of all of us to actively participate in the discussion of the great issues facing today's society, and therefore cooperativism. More than 1250 participants and collaborators from 24 countries representing different sectors of organized civil society, mainly cooperatives but also academia, NGOs and representatives of international organizations as well as State institutions, Organizations for the Promotion and Development of Cooperativism, national legislators and members of Parlatino, were present in Panama.