Panama gets German thumbs up

WHILE FRANCE  is still sitting on the fence  in reaction to the Panama Papers scandal  Panama got a vote of confidence from German Chancellor Ángela Merkel  onTuesday, October  18.

During a press conference with visiting'g President Juan Carlos Varela the Chancellor  praised Panama for its  response to the scandal which affected the country following the leak of documents by  the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), originally  through a German newspaper.

"Panama has taken the steps to correct issues and has accepted the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development," said Merkel

The German leaders said that Panama and Germany are working on an exchange of tax information agreement that is expected to go into effect in 2017.

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Stein Meier also welcomed the progress on the fight against tax evasion.