The vice president of Panama thus referred to the trip that FATF will make next September to the Central American country

The Vice President of Panama, José Gabriel Carrizo, was “sure” this Monday in Brussels that his country will be excluded from international lists that consider it a tax haven and deficient in money laundering, including those of the European Union (EU).

“We have the FATF (International Financial Action Task Force) visit in September, and this will allow, I am sure, with the 15 actions pending from Panama, to get off that list,” Carrizo said in the Belgian capital, where he is attending the first summit between the EU and the Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) in eight years.

“Likewise, we will be leaving the lists of the European Union for the benefit of Panamanians,” he said.

The vice president of Panama thus referred to the trip that FATF will carry out next September to the Central American country as part of the steps to remove it from the list of nations with deficiencies in the fight against money laundering.

Carrizo also stated that at the summit on Monday and Tuesday they will discuss “important issues and will try to “bring closer ties between Latin America and the European Union.”

Climate risk will be one of the aspects they address, and in this sense, Panama will value “the great steps it has taken” in environmental conservation.

He said that they will also see the “economic responses to this effort made by a small country like ours, with a noble heart, in favor of humanity.”

“We hope this is satisfactory for Latin America and for the European Union,” he stressed.

Asked about Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s proposal to restructure the global financial system to adopt the exchange of foreign debt for climate action, Carrizo stated that “it is a subject to analyze.”

“We are countries, for example, Panama, a country in the region that conserves a lot of ecological resources and must be financially rewarded by world powers,” he concluded.