4. The meeting was held in the Salón Las Américas of the Hotel Country Inn & Suites, Panama Canal Amador of Panama, Republic of Panama, from 6 to 8 December 2004. It was attended by 20 experts from nine countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, Canada and the United States and an observer from the Organization of the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Central America (OSPESCA). The list of participants is appended as Appendix B to this report.
5. The opening ceremony was presided by the Director of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agricultural Development of Panama, Lic. Elia Guerra, the National Director of Aquaculture, Dr Richard Pretto Malca, the Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and FAO in Panama, Mr Roberto Gálvez, FAO Senior Fishery Planning Officer Mr Angel Gumy and FAO Fishery Resources Officer Dr Jose Aguilar Manjarrez.
6. Mr Roberto Galvez welcomed the participants on behalf of FAO and stressed the important role of aquaculture in increasing fish supply, improving food security and alleviating rural poverty. He wished the participants a successful meeting and offered the services of his office for any support the meeting might require. Speaking on behalf of the Director-General of FAO, Mr Angel Gumy thanked the Government of Panama for kindly hosting the workshop and OSPESCA for its important support in organizing the event. He then outlined recent trends in world aquaculture and noted its rapid growth in contrast to the stagnation of capture fisheries in recent years. He also noted that this had led countries to attach importance to the sustainable development of aquaculture. He explained the objectives of the workshop, recalled that its participants had been invited in a personal capacity and expressed his hope that it generate valid and realistic results that would facilitate continued efforts to establish a regional cooperation network for the development of aquaculture.
7. Dr Richard Pretto Malca welcomed the workshop participants, referred to the main features of past cooperation for aquaculture development in Latin America and thanked FAO for its corresponding support to the countries of the region. He also mentioned that the Government of Panama was attaching increasing priority to the development of aquaculture as it recovered from disease-inflicted damage to shrimp cultivation in recent years and stated that the workshop was very timely for aquaculture in the region. Lic. Elia Guerra then welcomed the participants on behalf of the Ministry of Agricultural Development of Panama and, after emphasizing the importance of aquaculture and the workshop to the Government of Panama, declared it open.
8. Dr Richard Pretto Malca, National Director of Aquaculture of Panama, was elected Chairman of the meeting and Dr Ricardo Norambuena, Chief of the Department of Aquaculture of the Under-Secretariat of Fisheries of Chile, was elected Vice-Chairman. The agenda adopted by the workshop is appended as Appendix A.
