Panama expresses ‘full and immediate’ commitment to automatic exchange of information – La Prensa

Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama, expressed the commitment of “full and immediate government with implementation automatic exchange of information on bilateral and consistent with the objectives of the Common Reporting Standard-CRS [ Standards Common Reporting ] ” . This is the standard that promotes the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to combat tax evasion in the world.

More than 90 countries have committed to adopt this standard between 2017 and 2018. Panama had shown commitment to the automatic exchange of information, but had refused to adopt this standard. Instead, it would develop your own to have greater control of the parameters under which information would be shared. Panama’s position cost him several accusations by representatives of the OECD.

Saint Malo reported Thursday that “we are ready to actively support diplomatic dialogues and domestic reforms to address this global challenge,” referring to achieve greater international transparency.

“We are open and willing to engage internationally” to evaluate specific multilateral mechanisms for these standards.

“While we leave the door open to these discussions on the mechanism of CRS, we remain committed to the automatic exchange of bilateral information,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Washington, where the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hold the World Bank and finance ministers of the G-20 Jose Angel Gurria , secretary general of the OECD said Panama decided to conform to international standards on tax information.

“We have just received information that some minutes ago went public with a statement that will join the common parameters information delivery, “Gurria said at a press conference, the agency Reuters .

“If that is so and do so completely, it is actually very good news and a change very bienvenido.Sería a positive aspect of this whole incident,” he said.