About Panama

Located east of Costa Rica and west of Colombia, Panama is a narrow isthmus that united long ago North America with South America allowing migration of species in both directions. As a result, you will encounter in Panama more flora and fauna than in any other place in America.
To protect its local resources, Panama has created 14 National Parks with a total area of 1,391,833 hectares representing approximately 22% of the surface area of the country. About 30% of the country is still covered with jungle.

Besides its diverse ecosystem, Panama has three distinct native cultures: Kuna Indians from San Blas islands, Chocoe-Embera from Darien jungles and Guaymies from Chiriqui high lands. All of them have their own land reserve. Panama's dominant ethnicity is a mixture of immigrants from Spain, blacks, and natives. However, you will find many Arabs, Jews, Orientals, Indians, North Americans, Italians, Colombians, Spaniards and other Europeans that contribute to make Panama one of the richest countries in the region.

Panama was used by the Spaniard Conquistadors to launch their take over of the New World due to its strategic geographical location between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. You will find ruins of fortresses, cities and other jewels of the past that will allow your mind to explore a time when pirates were the rulers of the oceans.

Since these times, Panama has been a keystone of world commerce. Spain developed it as a land commerce route to unite both oceans. France conceived and started to build a water canal, but it was USA that made it a reality.

After the USA handed back the Panama Canal to Panamanians, and dictators vanished, Panama became a sovereign country, fully democratic, responsible for its own economy, and more open to the world than ever before.

Panama, unlike any other Central American countries, has permission to use US dollar as its currency.

The Investment Stability Law of 1998 guarantees both foreign and national investors alike, equal rights to investments and business practices. This allows Panama to provide an environment for foreign investing which requires no special authorizations, permits, or prior registration. The law also provides a 10 year guarantee for investments stating that tax, customs, municipal, labor and legal rules will remain the same as those at the time of registration. This secures that no-changes will affect the amortization of investments. Currently more than 2 billion dollars worth of projects have been registered under this legislation.

The Colon Free Trade Zone of Panama is the largest in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest in the world. It was created in 1948, and houses 1,751 merchants, receives more than 250,000 visitors yearly and exports more than 11 billion dollars annually.

Investment opportunities in Panama range from Real Estate Development, Tourism, Colon Free Trade Zone projects (ship and port services, cruise ship tourism, future canal construction), Telecommunications, Ecommerce, Petroleum Free Zones, and mining exploration.