Yes, thank you very much.
Allow me to make a reference to this issue of the pejorative classification of Panama as a tax haven. Panama has explained to the OECD and other trade partners and to economic partners around the world that the reality of our tax system--and there is ample evidence of this--does not correspond with a tax haven.
That's something my government has made very clear, and I think we have acted on it, particularly after His Excellency Ricardo Martinelli took office as President of the Republic back in July of 2009.
In light of that, in the last 18 months, the Government of Panama has advanced a tax policy that has no precedent and actually is far more aggressive than any other OECD policy or the policies of other countries that are participating in the OECD tax cooperation project. We have completed more than 14 negotiations of non-double taxation agreements following the OECD standards, which include the model clause 26 for the exchange of tax information. Again, that follows OECD standards.
These 14 non-double taxation agreements, which include cooperation on matters of the exchange of information, have been completed with OECD members just like Canada. Panama decided, as a national policy, to engage in cooperation on tax matters following one of the two alternatives that have been given to anyone by the OECD in this project.
The OECD has clearly stated to those countries that have been asked to cooperate on these matters that they can follow one of two ways. One is to follow a model of a tax information exchange agreement. The other is to engage in the negotiation of non-double taxation agreements with a clause to facilitate the exchange of information. It's not an obligation to follow just one. You have the alternative of taking either one or the other.
Panama decided, as a sovereign country, that it was in the best interests of its economy to engage in cooperation following the alternative of non-double taxation agreements. We are very pleased and very happy that we have actually gone beyond the request of the OECD, which was to have completed at least 12 of these instruments with OECD members. We are now in the 15th negotiation. We have already signed nine, and before our assembly, currently, there are four, if I'm not mistaken.
In the case of Canada, from the very first day of our administration, Panama offered to Canada to engage in the negotiation of a non-double taxation agreement, just as it would with any other OECD country, because that is, again, the policy our country has decided to follow. We still maintain that offer. We are very eager and very much committed to that offer, which has not changed one bit from the very first day.
In that sense, particularly having this free trade agreement and in the interests of the Canadian investments that are already in Panama, we strongly believe that a non-double taxation agreement is actually the best complement to our free trade agreement.