Speeches 2003

May 8, 2003

Remarks by Ambassador Linda Watt Fundraising Dinner for La Plaza de la Cultura y la Etnia

I am very pleased to be here this evening. Thank you so much for inviting me to participate in this very special event.

It's wonderful to see so many friends and colleagues who have gathered together because of shared interests and shared admiration for the Republic of Panama and the United States of America.

Your presence demonstrates that our countries have a relationship that is deep and broad. It extends from our governments to our nongovernmental organizations, from our cultural and academic institutions to our diverse populations. Inherent in this relationship is a friendship based on mutual respect and common interests - elements that unite us and that provide a framework, if you will, for our professional and personal interactions.

Some of you were born here, or have spent a good portion of your lives here. Others, like myself, are new arrivals who are in the process of settling in, making new friends, and discovering the multitude of Panama's charms and attractions -- its natural beauty, its incredible bio-diversity, and its rich cultural and ethnic heritage that, in my opinion, is its biggest national resource.

I have been seizing every opportunity my schedule will permit to venture out of my office and out of Panama City. I have seen beautiful and breathtaking places that I never dreamed existed, and I have been blessed to meet men, women, and children from almost all corners of this country. Whether members of indigenous tribes or descendants of immigrants from diverse lands, they make up the rich tapestry that gives Panama its unique character and promise.

I have only scratched the surface in my understanding of Panama. I have so much to learn. Nevertheless, I would like to take just a few minutes to talk about some of the trips I have made and share some of my early impressions - impressions very much in their formative stages.

I must admit I got off to a quick start. I arrived in Panama in mid-December and, during the Christmas holiday period, made a long-weekend trip to San Blas with my family. The picture-postcard beauty of those islands and the richness of the Kuna culture - just a half-hour's flight from Panama City - continue to amaze me.

My first official visit outside Panama City was to Colon in mid February. Among the highlights of that visit were stops at the Manzanillo International Terminal, the Colon 2000 cruise ship port, and an Episcopal Church service conducted in Spanish and English, underscoring the linguistic heritage - as well as potential -- of the Colon community.

New Horizons - the three-month-long humanitarian assistance program that has just concluded -- provided me several opportunities to visit the Ngobe-Bugle Comarca in Chiriqui. U.S. military reservists from Ohio, Missouri, and several other states, with the participation of Panamanian officials from several ministries, constructed three schools and three medical clinics, and provided medical treatment for thousands of Comarca residents.

I have also had the opportunity to visit the city of David, a coffee plantation near Boquete, and the ESTI power plant in the company of President Moscoso.

Just two weeks ago I made a three-day "gira" through Azuero. This trip included stops along the way in La Chorrera, Santa Clara, Decameron, Agua Dulce, and Chitre, as well as visits to some nontraditional agribusiness operations.

On most of my trips I have called on local government officials and business leaders. I have also held roundtable discussions with civic activists, NGO members, and American citizens - from retirees, to embassy wardens, to Peace Corps Volunteers who are doing some fantastic work.

So what have I learned? Well, in addition to gaining an appreciation for the geographical and ethnic diversity I've already mentioned, I have learned that there are a lot of innovative, hardworking, creative thinking people around this country.

I was really impressed, for instance, with the group of dynamic agribusiness entrepreneurs I met in Azuero who are producing and marketing such nontraditional products as melons and cheese. They are doing what Panama needs to do to succeed in this globalized world - innovate, create, take risks, and compete.

Many persons I talked to referred to Panama's role as a service-based economy. Panama is providing important services, and doing so very well, but in my travels I have wondered why there is so little light industry, so little manufacturing, so little food processing.

To grow competitively on the world stage, Panama needs to branch out, get ahead of the wave, and diversify its economy. It certainly has the comparative advantages for doing so when you consider the reverted lands of the former Canal Zone, with all their underutilized installations; the world-class transportation sector; good security and stable social conditions; and, not to be overlooked, an agreeable and hospitable climate.

Yet, there is a tendency - not unique to Panama, to be sure - to turn to government for solutions, for handouts, and for jobs. Often overlooked is the need to develop the human resources, values, and individual responsibility that are critical to growth and prosperity.

When I think of developing human resources, I immediately think of education. Education is key, and Panama needs to do more to bring its educational system into the 21st century. Even were Panama successful in educating all its children through the 6th grade - and it is a long way from that goal, especially within the indigenous communities - the country would still need to overhaul its system.

The way children are being taught - via rote memorization and repetition - might have been OK in the 18th century, but it is a totally inadequate method of instruction for children expected to live and work in a 21st century world. The skills necessary for competing in the globalized world of today - innovation, creativity, and the ability to reason and use judgment - are not part of most public school curriculums.

The rich, raw material of human potential is not being tapped. I cannot claim that the United States has the perfect model. Certainly, we have our problems in education. But I recall talking once to an educator who said that the U.S. system places greater emphasis in how to find knowledge rather than in imparting knowledge. Perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best: "The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education."

It's a subtle, but important, difference. We are overwhelmed with information. Knowing how to find what you need is certainly one of the keys to operating successfully and competitively in the 21st century. Another is having the trained good judgment to assess all that information. Mere rote memorization of facts will not enable you to find or judge what you need.

We in the embassy are eager to help improve educational opportunities in Panama. For instance, the U.S. Agency for International Development has given 400-thousand dollars to COSPAE - the Consejo del Sector Privado para la Asistencia Educacional - to help fund the design and implementation of a training and work-skills program for 12 thousand young people between the ages of 16 and 29.

This is an exciting and promising project, part of an alliance known as Entra 21 involving the International Youth Foundation and the International Development Bank and directed at 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The focus is on poor, disadvantaged young people, and the goal is to place them in jobs, primarily in the computer and information technology sectors. Those sectors have great promise in Panama, but that promise can only be realized with an educated and efficient workforce.

It is important to note that those companies and institutions here in Panama who have made a commitment to modernize their companies and to train, develop, and create upward mobility possibilities for their workers, are highly competitive in the global marketplace.

I'd like to talk for a few moments about immigration, a key element in the American panorama, and a cornerstone of American greatness.

The history of the United States is replete with examples of immigrants who came to our shores penniless, but had the desire for a better life, the drive to seek and acquire knowledge, the creativity to innovate, the willingness to work hard, and the courage to take chances.

Several secretaries of state have been immigrants to the United States, and my boss, Colin Powell, as I am sure you know, is the son of parents who emigrated from Jamaica. But how many of you know that this son of Jamaicans learned to speak Yiddish before he graduated from high school?

During his teenage years, Secretary Powell worked after school at a Jewish-operated retail store in the Bronx that had many Yiddish-speaking customers. Industrious and resourceful, Powell learned to communicate with them in the language with which they were most comfortable. Many years later on a trip to Israel, he put his linguistic skills to use to astound an unsuspecting Ariel Sharon at their first meeting.

Over the years - as a member of the National Security Council, as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, as head of an NGO to build character and competence among young people - Powell has spoken eloquently about the importance of education. "Employers," he has said, "increasingly need workers who can think, learn new skills rapidly, work in teams, and solve problems creatively. Yet too few youth - whether college bound or not - have these qualities or, in many cases, even basic work skills." One of the most inspiring U.S. immigrant stories of recent decades was that of Jaime Escalante, the Bolivian schoolteacher who arrived in California unable to speak a word of English. Like so many immigrants in this day and age, he took a job bussing tables and cleaning floors in a restaurant. But at night, he studied English, math, and electronics at Pasadena City College.

Several years later he earned a degree in electronics and got a job as an assembly-line supervisor in electronics plant. But his dream was to teach. Consequently, he returned to school, got a bachelor's degree from Cal State, and was hired by an inner-city Los Angeles high school beset by drugs, gang violence, and abysmally low test scores.

The inspiring 1988 movie, Stand and Deliver, tells how Escalante turned things around -- coaching and motivating students to take and pass advanced-level, college-placement math and other tests. He became a national hero and a model for teachers around the world.

Immigrants have changed the face of the United States, and our country is all the richer for it. I represent the U.S. Foreign Service, which 50 years ago was known as a bastion of that peculiar creature known as the WASP - or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. We recently conducted an informal embassy survey among our U.S. officers here and learned that they have roots in more than 30 countries, representing virtually every area of the world. They also come from about 25 different states.

In my own case, I track my roots to Scotland, where my grandfather was born. As a young boy, he came to America with his parents and brothers and sisters to settle in Northern Virginia. My great-grandfather managed a farm owned by the Robert E. Lee family. Like all Americans, I'm proud of my family heritage. I know that same ethnic and ancestral pride is a characteristic of Panamanians as well.

Panama, like the United States, has reaped the rewards of its numerous immigrants. We all are familiar with Panama's unique history and development --its "geopolitical destiny" some say -- as the crossroads of the Isthmus. The recruitment of workers to construct the 50-mile-long Canal 100 years ago contributed to making Panama one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse nations in the world today.

We North Americans here in Panama are part of a large international community that comprises Afro-Antillean descendants, Chinese, Greeks, Hindus, Italians, Jews, Moslems, Spaniards, and many other nationalities and ethnic groups.

This year, as Panama celebrates its Centennial, we have a special opportunity to honor all the immigrant and ethnic groups that have contributed to the development of Panama. As we celebrate and pay tribute to them, taking special note of America's contributions, let's resolve to help develop their potential in all ways possible.

I am very excited by the proposed "Plaza Etnia y de la Cultura" project. I am looking forward to hearing in a few moments more details about its design and construction, and how it will symbolize the rich cultural heritage that unites us.

What the 19th century novelist Herman Melville once wrote about the United States could apply equally to Panama: "We are the heirs of all time, and with all nations we divide our inheritance."

My deep appreciation goes to all of you here tonight for demonstrating your commitment to two countries that are important to me and that I love, the United States of America and the Republic of Panama. Thank you and good evening.