US Ambassador Phyllis Powers Speaks about Security and America Investment in Panama

January 23, 2012

Ambassador Powers during her address

U.S. Ambassador Phyllis Powers gave the keynote address at today’s security forum entitled: Growing the Public-Private Partnership for Security.  This forum was organized by the Panama Country Council of the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) and held at the Trump Ocean Club and Resort. Attending the event were: Arturo Alvarado, Director General de SINAPROC; Comisionado Javier Fanuco, Director de Operaciones de la Policia Nacional de Panamá; Daniel Arevalo, Co-Presidente de OSAC, and Sra. Kimberly Crocker, Directora de Comunicaciones Corporative de la Camera Americana De Commercio e Industrias de Panama

This forum brought together members of the U.S. business community in Panama with Panamanian law enforcement and disaster response officials to discuss on-going and future collaborative efforts to ensure Panama remains a safe and secure destination for U.S. investment. 

“Prevention is key in improving Panama’s security climate,”   said Ambassador Powers. “The U.S. Embassy support for Panama’s security focuses on community policing, reaching out to at-risk youth, strengthening police internal affairs, and bolstering law enforcement capacity to investigate and prosecute gang-related crimes.” She added that “It is only through public-private partnerships like OSAC and through forward-looking organizations like the American Chamber of Commerce that we can hope to make progress on seizing the opportunities and confronting the complex problems of today.”

The Overseas Security Advisory Council was created in 1985 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to promote security cooperation between American private sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State. Today, over 3,500 U.S. companies, educational institutions, faith-based institutions, and non-governmental organizations are OSAC constituents.  In addition to the main Council, based in Washington DC, there are 135 local Country Councils around the world.

The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) Panama Country Council was established in 2008. The goal of the Country Council is to increase multi-directional communication on security issues (crime, crisis preparedness, etc.) between the U.S. Government and private sector U.S. companies and NGOs operating in Panama.  This includes both threat and targeting information for individual sectors and sharing of best practices.

For more information about OSAC, please see our website at: www.osac.gov.