Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Panama’s president and foreign minister to assure support for front-line communities hosting migrants and refugees with more resources for public health and safety and stronger social services.
Blinken joined Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen and Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes at the Ministerial Conference on Migration and Protection Session on Stabilization of Communities and Post-COVID Recovery, according to an April 20 release of their remarks.
“The United States is expediting family-based petitions at our embassies throughout Central America so that migrants with family members in the United States are able to go there sponsored by the family members, and they can move much more quickly through the process as a result,” Blinken said. “We’re also expanding visas for eligible groups – for example, 20,000 additional H2B temporary agricultural worker visas that Secretary Mayorkas recently announced.”
The multilateral finance and development institutions that have been providing more resources to front-line communities have been critical, he said, according to the release. The nations need to bring those efforts to scale throughout the hemisphere.
“We have to strengthen the policies of the region to be able to drive the economic growth in our countries to generate human growth opportunities and create better living conditions for our people,” Cohen said, according to the release.
