Panama hopes to be withdrawn from French blacklist of tax havens by next month

Panama's finance minister, Frank De Lima, forecast that his country will be removed by the French list of tax havens now that a bilateral accord has been approved by legislators in France.

The legislators have approved a double taxation agreement that was signed in the summer.

France and Panama have had strained relations ever since Nicolas Sakorzy, the French president -- as leader of the Group of "0 -- announced that Panama would be on the blacklist.

Original source (in Spanish): Notimex