International Trade committee  I think it's a great opportunity to continue to look out for opportunities in Panama, because the canal expansion project is open to the world community. When you go to the project, you see Spanish companies, Japanese companies, not just us. Some companies are expected from the U.S. that are very interested in the expansion, but we are open for business with anyone around the world.

International Trade committee  Thank you for the question. Indeed, since Panama achieved the return of democracy in 1990, improvement in the quality of life has taken place, and not just for economic reasons, but in civil laws and the rule of law that we are pursuing. Also, I have to mention that the economy of my country has grown considerably in the last few years.

International Trade committee  Let me talk briefly about this. This Canadian company based in Toronto, named Inmet Mining Corporation, is making a huge investment in Panama. Exploitation of the minerals in Panama is expected to last about 100 years. The investment your country, through this company, is doing in my country is comparable to the investment the United States did when they built the canal.

International Trade committee  It is the opinion of a prestigious university, but it's not an official institution that we could take—

International Trade committee  Perhaps this is what they thought, and I'm sure that's why the U.S. pushed to sign this agreement with us—

International Trade committee  I'm not an expert on that. I'm not technically knowledgeable about this trade specifically, but what I could say is that OECD countries such as Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and the U.S. are happier with what they did with Panama, so I think it will benefit Canada and it will benefit Panama too.

International Trade committee  We have recently been working seriously toward these negotiations of free trade agreements with other countries of the world and the hemisphere. We recently finished a negotiation with Peru. We are having conversations with countries of the CARICOM, the Caribbean commonwealth. We have celebrated a free trade agreement with the United States of America as well.

International Trade committee  Yes, there is an exceptional agreement with Mexico.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for your question. What I could say is that in order to comply with international standards and the issues that you are raising today, Panama has negotiated with several countries what we call in Spanish tratados para evitar la doble tributación, double tax treaties, and actually we have negotiated that agreement with your country, although it has not been signed yet.

International Trade committee  It is a treaty to contain mechanisms to exchange information according to our interests and laws. We have signed this treaty, which I can send to you if you want, with Italy, Spain, France, Belgium just to mention a few.

International Trade committee  Canada has not signed the treaty yet, but we are expecting your government to do so in the coming months or whenever you are able to do so, because now it's in legal wording.

International Trade committee  I don't really know the policy towards the United States of America. What I can say is that we had two treaties with the U.S. recently that related to this. They are the tax information treaty that I mentioned, as well as the free trade agreement that is in place right now with the United States.

International Trade committee  We have signed 14 agreements.

International Trade committee  We have not considered ourselves banking secrecy. We are expecting this treaty to provide more information to the rest of the world in that line. We are out of the grey list, as you mentioned. What I could also say is that there is a high-level commission in Panama working on this issue, especially to provide information and other laws to combat money laundering and drug trafficking as well.

International Trade committee  I don't have figures right here about money laundering in Panama, but if I asked my authorities back in Panama, I could share with you what the Panamanian authorities are doing towards and against money laundering in my country. However, I don't have the figures with me right now.