Digital corridors for the world’s largest fleet: Expanding technological partnership with Panama

Ukraine and Panama are expanding their technological cooperation. A team from the Ministry of Digital Transformation met with Jorge Ricardo Silen Santacoloma, Panama’s Ambassador to Ukraine. The parties discussed the development of e-government, cybersecurity, and financial technologies, as well as exchanged best practices on digitalization.

Representing Ukraine at the meeting were Valeriya Koval, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, and Vladyslav Branashko, Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Panama is currently undergoing active digitalization: it is developing its own digital ID and electronic driver’s licenses. Since Ukraine has already gone through this stage, our case studies on building a digital state are highly relevant to the Panamanian government.

Diia’s Experience and Artificial Intelligence

The Ukrainian team shared its experience using the Diia to support citizens: from rapid social payments to the eVidnovlennia - Register of Damages and Compensation for Destroyed Property. They also presented the concept of the Proactive State (Agentic State) and the work of the national AI assistant Diia.AI, which helps users instantly find government services through a conversational interface.

Fragmentation remains the main challenge for Panama: various agencies develop their own systems that do not share data. Therefore, the parties discussed Ukraine’s experience in automating business services (in particular, the fast-track registration of sole proprietorships) and mechanisms for transparently involving the IT sector in government projects. They also touched on the topic of secure regulation of financial services and user verification.

Digitalization of the maritime industry and “smart” ports

The most promising area of cooperation is the digitalization of maritime logistics. Panama has the world’s largest commercial fleet and manages the strategic Panama Canal.

We shared a case study on the digitalization of services for seafarers: from the launch of electronic certificates to combating corruption and forgery through QR codes. Establishing partnerships between Ukrainian IT companies and Panamanian organizations will enable the creation of effective technological solutions for “smart” ports and digital trade corridors.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed to organize joint online workshops on digital identification, service automation, and registry integration. The Ministry of Digital Transformation also plans to involve representatives from the Panama Maritime Authority to advance the track on the digitalization of maritime services.

We continue to work systematically and share our digital expertise with the world.