Panama and FAO sign cooperation agreement to strengthen agriculture

Panama and the Food and Agriculture Organization have signed a five-year cooperation framework focused on strengthening agriculture and rural development.

The 2026-2030 Country Programming Framework sets out the roadmap for technical cooperation between Panama and the FAO. Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha and René Orellana Halkyer, the FAO’s deputy director-general and representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, signed the agreement. Agriculture Minister Roberto Linares attended as an honorary witness.

The framework will make FAO technical capacity, international experience, knowledge and partnerships available to support changes in Panama’s agri-food systems. The agreement identifies family farming and rural development as priorities, alongside food security and environmental sustainability.

Orellana Halkyer praised the work of Panama’s Agriculture Ministry with producers and rural communities to improve productivity, encourage innovation and strengthen the sector’s ability to adapt. He also highlighted the Environment Ministry’s efforts to protect water, soil, forests and biodiversity amid climate change.

The planned initiatives are intended to benefit producers, fishers, rural communities, women, young people and Indigenous peoples. Martínez-Acha described the framework as a renewal of a decades-long relationship based on knowledge-sharing, technical assistance and solutions to national development challenges.