PANAMA CITY, September 12, 2026 — From tropical rainforests and Caribbean beaches to one of the engineering wonders of the world and the only capital city named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, Panama is a vibrant country with a rich and intricate culture and history.
The 2026 ICA Global Cooperative Conference, organised in partnership with the regional body Cooperatives of the Americas, will bring together delegates from cooperatives around the world in Panama City from September 13–18, 2026, offering participants an opportunity to explore different aspects of the country.
Panama covers 74,340 square kilometres [28,703 square miles] and has a population of around 4.6 million. It has more than 615 active cooperatives, with over 250,000 members and assets exceeding US$2.7 billion. You can read more about cooperatives in Panama and our hosts, IPACOOP and Cooperativa Professionales.
Visit Panama, the brand owned and operated by PROMTUR, Panama’s Tourism Promotion Fund, is supporting the event. On August 26, the organisation launched a new national brand, “Panamá, Anfitrión del Mundo” [Panama, Host to the World], as a national positioning platform integrating tourism, investment, exports, culture and sustainability.
“This demonstrates once again that when we unite around a shared purpose, we are capable of achieving great things,” said José Raúl Mulino, President of the Republic, at the launch.
Mulino will participate in the opening and closing ceremonies of the ICA Global Conference.
Alongside the Panama Canal and Bridge of the Americas, the country’s islands and rainforests are biodiversity hotspots. Panama is known as the bird capital of the Americas, being home to 1,020 species — around 10 per cent of all bird species on Earth — more than the USA and Canada combined.
For architecture enthusiasts, the Biomuseo is the first work of world-renowned architect Frank Gehry in Latin America. The building is designed to tell the story of how the Isthmus of Panama emerged from the sea, connecting two continents — a theme closely linked to the subject of the conference.
Gehry used vibrant colours in the design, which are unusual for his work and represent a departure from his typical style, characterised by metallic surfaces and curved shapes.
Panama’s location as a narrow isthmus linking Central and South America has shaped its entire history. Long inhabited by Indigenous groups such as the Guna, Emberá and Ngäbe, the region became a Spanish colonial crossing point after 1519, when Panama City was founded as a staging post for shipping plundered gold from Peru back to Spain.
Panama eventually broke from Spanish rule as part of Gran Colombia in 1821, before separating from Colombia entirely in 1903, with US backing. This cleared the way for the construction of the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914 and transferred fully to Panamanian control in 1999.
Today, the canal remains the country’s defining feature, underpinning an economy built around shipping, logistics and banking. Panama’s mix of Indigenous, Spanish, Afro-Caribbean and immigrant influences has also made it one of the most culturally diverse countries in Central America.
This diversity is reflected in the local cuisine, from sancocho de gallina, the hearty chicken, yam and coriander soup considered the national dish, to ropa vieja, slow-cooked shredded beef in a rich tomato sauce whose curious name — “old clothes” — refers to its tattered appearance.
Patacones, twice-fried plantain slices, are among the country’s most common side dishes. Fresh ceviche is a popular light bite, while tamales panameños and hojaldra — fried breakfast dough often served with eggs and cheese — are well-loved breakfast staples.
https://thecooperator.news/six-new-speakers-announced-for-ica-global-conference-in-panama/
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