Bianca Morán will continue leading the board of directors of APEX.

On the morning of Wednesday, January 29, Bianca Morán took office as the president of the Panamanian Association of Exporters (APEX).

The re-elected president stated that in this new term, she will focus on the establishment of pending food processing plants, the growth of the export matrix, and complying with the law on deforestation-free products.  

Morán stated that the aforementioned 'can only be achieved if the level of bureaucracy is reduced, the discretion of officials is eliminated, qualified personnel are assigned within the export matrix, and government operations are digitized.

For this year, the businesswoman expects exports to continue growing. 'Last year, we grew by 10% without copper, and this year we expect to maintain that growth rate,' she stated.

She explained that the main sectors driving the dynamization of the industry are 'fish, fish meal, fillets, frozen fish, fresh fish, rum,' Morán specified.

Despite the growth, the president of APEX emphasized that 'we need to bet on added value. These are products with higher value that generate better-paying jobs. We must invest in added value.

The export sector generates 100,000 jobs; however, Morán detailed that 'the majority are from the food sector. But this year, we have 24,000 fewer formal salaried workers than in 2012.'