A fruitful meeting between the IOC and the NOC of Panama took place on 25 June 2012 in Lausanne.
The main purpose of this meeting was to follow up on the IOC visit to Panama in April this year and to consider the next steps in assisting the NOC of Panama to clarify its internal situation in the perspective of the next NOC elections.
It was resolved, in particular, that the NOC election process will take place in December 2012 and will have to be democratic, transparent, open, fair and credible, in accordance with the Olympic Charter and the NOC Statutes currently in force (as approved by the IOC in 2002).
To that end, it was agreed that specific election rules must be drafted by the NOC - in agreement with the IOC - and circulated to the National Federations which are members of the NOC, before being ultimately adopted at a meeting of the NOC General Assembly which will take place at the end of August 2012.
As part of this process, the composition and membership of the NOC will also be clarified and ratified based on the Olympic Charter and the NOC Statutes currently in force. All necessary steps will be taken to ensure that (i) all eligible National Federations are duly included and represented by their legitimate delegates and (ii) all eligible individual members are also included in the composition of the NOC. The whole process will be supervised by an independent ad-hoc commission.
The Director of Pandeportes, Mr Rubén Cárdenas, joined this meeting, confirming a close coordination and collaboration with the government authorities of Panama in order to develop the whole process in full compliance with all applicable rules and for the benefit of the Olympic and sports Movement in Panama.
Lastly, all participants in this meeting called for all components of the Olympic and sports Movement in Panama, being assured that this process will be conducted in an open, fair and transparent way, to take part in such process in a united manner.