By Jaimie  Figureroa Navarro

Our Travel contributor  celebrating Panama’s growing stature on the world stage stresses that it’s a work in progress and calls on the community  to boost the image through daily courtesy.

He writes:

For several decades Panama has given presentations throughout the world, aimed at investors, pensioners, associations, universities, and teachers, extolling the virtues that make us a desirable destination.

The presentations were constantly improved with videos and visual aids to accompany  speeches, updated  daily to keep them  fresh, and now it is paying dividends.

In recent months Panama has received a lot of attention.  We were selected as the number one retirement destination by the prestigious U.S. publication News & World Report, put out by Yahoo! Finance, with over 300 million members.

In a world that remains unstable since the collapse of the twin towers on September 11 2001, the utopian quest for heaven on earth points right to Panama. A Panama that despite challenges, and after five centuries of interdependence with Spain, Colombia, France, and the US, has stood alone since the beginning of the millennium.

The publication of the article "Panama is evolving as a global hub of business,” accompanied by a great photo spread of the ithsmus, in the prestigious Real Estate Directory of Argentina 2012, is an achievement that until recently would have been impossible in these latitudes.

Let’s enjoy the glory, but we cannot stop working for it. We have a massive task ahead. We must tirelessly continue to educate our citizens, improving their quality of life, remembering always that a country is the sum of all its inhabitants and not just the comfort of a few. We must be friendly and practice common courtesy, starting at home.
As we sculpt our new identity, creating a collective euphoria in which  we all enjoy the same opportunities, remember that each one of us is the best ambassador of Panama.

 Our visitors form a positive impression from every sincere smile, and a negative perception from every piece of paper we throw into the street.  We must remember that poverty is a temporary state, not necessarily. synonymous with bad habits. We only have one life. Let us live it well, especially since we are in the Eden, the envy of so many.