March 8, 2023. For the sixth consecutive year, the Latin American Stock Exchange (Latinex) joins more than 122 exchanges around the world and participates in the Ring the Bell for Gender Equality in commemoration of International Women's Day, thus reaffirming its commitment to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 5: Gender Equality, urging private and government entities to adopt initiatives to achieve this objective. This event was held in partnership with: United Nations Global Compact, UN Women, Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative – UN initiative (SSE), International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Federation of Stock Exchanges (WFE), IDB Invest and Join. Under the title “For an inclusive digital world: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, Latinex once again carried out this ringing of the bell in a face-to-face format, after two years in a virtual format, marked by the restrictions of the pandemic. Her Excellency María Inés Castillo, Minister of Social Development, was in charge of giving the opening words, highlighting that “spaces like this allow us to promote changes, share best practices and, most importantly, generate actions to close gender gaps, a topic "That concerns us all, not just women." For their part, representatives of the associations that co-organize this event globally with the stock exchanges were also present with key messages for attendees. María Inés Salamanca, Partnership Specialist at the UN Women Regional Office, shared about the initiatives that are being carried out at the local and regional level that benefit promoting gender equality in all social areas. The Regional Manager for Central America of the International Financial Corporation (IFC), Sanaa Abouzaid emphasized the main presentation of the event, which would take place later on the agenda. In this sense, he highlighted that due to the findings of the study “Analysis of gender equality in Latin American corporate boards”, he congratulated Latinex for its tireless efforts to have more women in decision-making positions. Today, the Panama Stock Exchange tops the list with the highest percentage of positions held by women in management bodies – 20 percent – ​​and the highest percentage of bodies chaired by women – 9 percent,” said Abouzaid. “But this light of optimism that Panama offers should only be a starting point. On this path, IFC will continue to support Latinex and the region's stock exchanges to support gender equality through leadership, strengthening market performance and promoting products with a gender focus,” he added. Bruno Basile, Executive Director of Sumarse, highlighted that “At Sumarse we promote social responsibility and sustainability in the private sector, working hand in hand with various organizations that seek to build a more equitable and fair Panama. On this International Women's Day, it is important to highlight the role that the private sector has in contributing to closing the gender gap, through policies and processes that promote diversity and inclusion, and in the construction of spaces for safe and reliable work. Companies are a reflection of the society in which we live; if we want to remain profitable, we must move towards plural and diverse representation at all levels of our organizations.” The IDB Invest was represented by Marisela Alvarenga, Head of the Financial Institutions Division, for whom “sustainable investment continues to take center stage, but we must promote equitable access to financing for both women and men so that our finances are truly sustainable.” highlights during his speech. Arturo Gerbaud De La Guardia, President of the Board of Directors of Latinex Holdings, was in charge of providing some introductory words on behalf of the Group, in which he noted that “at Latinex, as market infrastructures and central point of contact between issuers, investors and market intermediaries, we recognize the important role we have in the transition towards sustainable development, reflected in our sustainability strategy launched at the beginning of last year and as part of our strategic objectives it includes promoting technology and digitalization, as well as promoting diversity and equal opportunities in the Panamanian market, through spaces like this one that brings us together today. In order to ensure that women have an equal participation in our economy, recognizing that progress towards gender equality is a fundamental factor to achieve more prosperous societies in economic terms and more cohesive in social terms.