the Panamanian Experience

June 19, 2008 – The Executive Secretariat of the National Council for Transparency against Corruption, the Revenue Directorate General of Panama (DGI, as per the acronym in Spanish), the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) and the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (APEDE, as per the acronym in Spanish) organized and held the 1st Session on the Promotion of Integrity in the Public and Private Sectors: the Panamanian Experience. The event featured a presentation by CIAT’s Executive Secretary on the mechanisms to promote ethics in tax administrations.

The meeting, held on June 4 last at the Four Point by Sheraton Hotel in Panama City, gathered more than 150 officials from Panama’s executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as representatives from the private sector, businesspeople, staff and students, who heard interesting presentations on the main efforts undertaken both by the public and private sectors in building and promoting integrity. The opening ceremony was chaired by Dilio Arcia, Presidential Minister and Chair of the National Council for Transparency against Corruption.

CIAT’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Claudino Pita, presented the most significant papers prepared by the Center on the promotion of ethics in Tax Administrations, which include: the Minimum Attributes Charter for a Healthy and Efficient Tax Administration, the Declaration on the Promotion of Ethics, the Model Code of Conduct, the Self-Assessment and Diagnostic Guide and the Toolkit, as well as the outreach and communications strategy on the outcomes, which is currently one of the lines of work of the Standing Committee on Ethics and Tax Administration, presided by the Canada Revenue Agency and coordinated technically by the same Agency and the Executive Secretariat. Also representing CIAT were Director of Tax Studies, María Raquel Ayala Doval and the expert from the Tax Research Management, Gonzalo Arias. Dr. Pita’s presentation raised much interest among attendees on account of the progress made by the Center in promoting integrity.

The session enabled a process of sensitization in the Panamanian society regarding the importance of promoting integrity as an essential pillar to help lay the foundations for efficient and transparent public administration, a socially responsible business sector and an organized and participatory civil society, with the goal of defining common objectives, strategies and policies aimed at achieving further social and economic equity and promoting a culture of integrity in the different sectors.