Last weeks three days of intense lobbying to the Panamanian government regarding immigration and other issues has resulted in a commitment by the president to make a swift change in the visa issue and to review carefully the other matters we brought to their attention. Many new readers are not aware of what took place and efforts made by Prima Panama and the readers of this blog to effect these changes. It could not have happened without the power of the Internet to bring people together with a single voice and have those voices heard. I have put the story in chronological order in this one post to make it easier to understand the process we went through in the hopes others can use this tool in a positive way.
It began with a letter written by Paul McBride titled "Paradise lost" where he carefully describes the recent changes made by various government officials that was having a negative impact on foreign direct investment into Panama. Along with that letter, we provided a survey for our almost 6000 readers to answer along with their personal comments regarding how they perceive these changes. The over 800 responses received within 72 hours were printed and placed in a large three ring binder and delivered to a dozen or so government officials we believed were responsible for the changes or would be sympathetic to our cause.
We made appointments with a number of government officials over the next three days to explain our position and to photograph them as they looked at the survey results. We posted a daily report of our progress on this blog site along with the photographs of each meeting and "on the record statements" by each official. This transparent way of presenting and reporting our case was effective in persuading those in power to review their actions and take the necessary steps to protect the investment climate that is so valuable to the country. Here are the links to each of those three reports.
First day report-Wednesday update
