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Panama's Cabinet Council approved Resolucion No. 89-26 adopting the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, a policy instrument that sets objectives and priorities rather than obligations
A national strategy is not a rulebook, and treating it as one is a common and expensive mistake. What it does tell you is where the rules will come from next, and in Panama's case the answer is unusually specific.
Bottom line: Not binding on private parties. This is a Cabinet Council resolution adopting a strategy, and SENACYT describes it as containing objectives, programs, actions and priorities. It creates no compliance obligation, no deadline and no penalty for firms.
Who this affects: Executives at global services, connectivity and logistics firms with Panamanian operations; academic and industry members of the Comision Nacional para Tecnologias Criticas y Emergentes; and public-sector technology leads at the Ministerio de la Presidencia and SENACYT.
Issue date: SENACYT published the announcement on 12 August 2026. The announcement does not state the date on which the Cabinet Council adopted Resolucion No. 89-26.
What changed: The strategy moves from proposal to adopted government policy. It was presented to Cabinet by the Comision Nacional para Tecnologias Criticas y Emergentes through its AI subcommission, and it joins the National Microelectronics and Semiconductors Strategy inside the Agenda Nacional de Tecnologias Avanzadas.
Analysis: The stated vision is positional rather than regulatory: Panama wants to be the trusted AI innovation hub for Latin America, leaning on connectivity, global services and institutional stability. Countries that pick a hub posture tend to legislate light and certify heavy, and that is the signal worth tracking.
Primary sources: SENACYT announcement (ES)
- Instrument (EN)
- Cabinet Council Resolution No. 89-26, approving the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Republic of Panama
- Authority
- Consejo de Gabinete; presented by the Ministerio de la Presidencia and SENACYT
- Jurisdiction
- Panama
- Status
- Approved by the Cabinet Council
- Bindingness
- Policy instrument. It sets objectives, programs, actions and priorities; it does not impose duties on private parties
- Issue date / next deadline
- Announced by SENACYT on 12 August 2026. No deadline and no consultation window is stated in the announcement
- Originating body
- Comision Nacional para Tecnologias Criticas y Emergentes, with its AI subcommission, under SENACYT technical coordination
- Wider programme
- Agenda Nacional de Tecnologias Avanzadas, presented to the country in June 2026
- Primary source
- https://www.senacyt.gob.pa/en/gabinete-aprueba-la-estrategia-nacional-de-inteligencia-artificial/
What was approved, in the announcement's own terms
SENACYT reports that the Cabinet Council gave the green light to Resolucion No. 89-26, which approves the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Republic of Panama. The resolution was sponsored before Cabinet by the Ministry of the Presidency and by SENACYT.
On SENACYT's account the resolution contains the objectives, programs, actions and priorities for driving innovation and the ethical, responsible, inclusive and safe use and development of AI in the country.
That sentence is the whole legal character of the instrument. Objectives, programs, actions and priorities are planning categories. Nothing in the announcement describes a prohibition, a registration duty, a risk classification or a supervisory power.
The hub framing is the substantive choice
The strategy sets out the vision of turning the country into the trusted AI innovation hub of Latin America, drawing on Panama's strengths in connectivity, global services and institutional stability.
Alongside that, SENACYT lists what the strategy prioritises: development of local capabilities, technological sovereignty, prosperity, environmental sustainability, international cooperation, and the attraction of strategic investment, in line with national priorities and international best practice.
Local capability building and technological sovereignty sit slightly awkwardly next to investment attraction, and how that tension is resolved in the implementing programs is the thing to watch. The announcement does not resolve it.
Who wrote it tells you how it will be implemented
The strategy was presented to Cabinet by the Comision Nacional para Tecnologias Criticas y Emergentes through its AI subcommission. SENACYT describes that commission as bringing together academia and the productive sector under SENACYT technical coordination.
That is a science and technology route, not a data protection or telecommunications route. It suggests the near-term output will be programs, capability building and standards work rather than enforcement.
It is one half of a two-part agenda
Approval of the National AI Strategy comes alongside the National Microelectronics and Semiconductors Strategy. SENACYT describes both as part of the Agenda Nacional de Tecnologias Avanzadas, a state initiative intended to respond to national and global challenges through science, technology and innovation as a bet on a knowledge-based economy.
The agenda was presented to the country in June 2026. At the launch, President Jose Raul Mulino said that artificial intelligence, microelectronics and semiconductors, all technologies transforming the world, would form part of the nation's development.
Reading the two strategies together is more informative than reading either alone: the AI strategy is not a standalone digital policy but part of an industrial positioning play.
What we did not verify
I opened SENACYT's own announcement of the Cabinet approval, published on 12 August 2026. Every fact and the quoted vision statement above come from that page.
I did not open Resolucion No. 89-26 itself, the text of the Estrategia Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial, the National Microelectronics and Semiconductors Strategy, the Gaceta Oficial publication, or any record of the June 2026 launch. I could not confirm the adoption date of the resolution because the announcement does not state one.
So I will not describe the strategy's pillars, timelines, governance structures, funding, indicators, or any obligation it might place on anyone. Nor will I assert a specific adoption date. If you need those, the Gaceta Oficial text is the document to obtain.
Panama has adopted an AI strategy, not an AI law, and the difference matters for planning. Nothing here creates a duty for a firm operating in Panama today. What it does is tell you which institution owns the agenda, which is SENACYT through the critical and emerging technologies commission, and which posture the government has chosen, which is a trusted regional hub built on connectivity and services. Watch that commission for the instruments that will actually bind.
Source File
https://www.senacyt.gob.pa/en/gabinete-aprueba-la-estrategia-nacional-de-inteligencia-artificial/
Open the SENACYT announcement and confirm that the instrument is identified as Resolucion No. 89-26 of the Consejo de Gabinete, that SENACYT describes its content as objectives, programs, actions and priorities, and that the stated vision is to make Panama the Hub Confiable de Innovacion en Inteligencia Artificial de America Latina. Note that the page carries a publication date of 12 August 2026 and no adoption date for the resolution itself.
La Estrategia Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial establece la vision de convertir al pais en el Hub Confiable de Innovacion en Inteligencia Artificial de America Latina. SENACYT announcement, 12 August 2026
FAQ
Does Panama now have an AI law?
No. What was approved is a Cabinet Council resolution adopting a national strategy. SENACYT describes it as setting objectives, programs, actions and priorities, and the announcement identifies no obligation, deadline or penalty.
Who is behind the strategy?
It was presented to Cabinet by the Comision Nacional para Tecnologias Criticas y Emergentes and its AI subcommission, which brings together academia and the productive sector under SENACYT technical coordination, and it was sponsored by the Ministry of the Presidency and SENACYT.
What is the stated ambition?
To make Panama the trusted AI innovation hub of Latin America, building on connectivity, global services and institutional stability, and prioritising local capability, technological sovereignty, sustainability, international cooperation and strategic investment.
Where does it sit in wider policy?
Inside the Agenda Nacional de Tecnologias Avanzadas, presented to the country in June 2026, alongside the National Microelectronics and Semiconductors Strategy.
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