A little earlier, you said that one of the mandates of your section was to administer the agreements, including tax information exchange agreements between Canada and other countries.
On November 3, I asked Mr. Castonguay from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade how many agreements Panama needed to sign in order to be removed from the grey list established by the OECD. He answered: "to be taken off the grey list, 12 agreements are needed. Panama is currently at 10." More importantly, he also stated this: I would say that they are halfway there. It's not just a matter of going from the grey list to the white list. The country in question must show that it has not only the potential, but also the ability to exchange information under current agreements. That's something Panama should have to prove in due course when the Global Forum reviews its case more closely in a few years.
That means that even with an agreement, there is no certainty that the country will have the ability to exchange tax information. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade told us that he has written a letter to sign a tax information exchange agreement. But even with an exchange, it is uncertain whether Panama's signature will be enough. That's what an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said. Signing is not enough. The country must also show that it is able to do the exchange.
Are there currently any other countries that have already signed agreements and that have not proved that they were able to exchange the information?