Panama President Laurentino Cortizo, clarified Friday that for Minera Panama to have a legal contract, it must first go through the National Assembly to be approved or rejected.

"It cannot be that you modify or extend a Law contract through a resolution, that does not work that way and the lawyers know it," said the President.

He argued that what the Government is asking for is to obtain greater contributions from the company since if the company is doing well, the State must be doing well.

"It has not been on a whim, we have presented the proposals of how we reached $375 million a year and they consider it reasonable in writing, but we cannot continue in that little game where we reach an agreement and then they send us another proposal," he said. .

"What do we want as a country?",  - Respect, we want Minera Panama and any company to do well in this country, but President Cortizo is not going to lend himself to that little game," he said.

He stressed that the doors are open to finding a solution in favor of the country, which creates trust between the parties, but "not to continue with the little game."

Earlier, the Minera Panamá company sent a statement stating that it was "disappointed" by the attitude taken by the Government and alleging that in 2017 it had extended the contract until 2037, which is legally in force