No, that is not my title, but I liked it as it seems to capture the essence of the article that goes with it. 
Panama just signed a double taxation agreement with France this week and now it seems they are opening up the flood gates to more investments in the country. With this agreement at the home of the infamous OECD, it would seem that Panama may soon be off the gray/black list. After all, French pols need places to put their money too.
As the article points out, the French lost a lot of money around the turn of the 19th century with the failed attempt to build the canal. Maybe they think they will have better luck this time just supplying support services. They took the problem of Noriega off Panama's plate just in time. Coincidence? Maybe it makes them more secure. Bring it on over! There is a home for your euros here.
Many French companies have set their sights on Panama to win some of the millionaire contracts soon to be tendered, and Panamanian authorities believe that French investment will skyrocket after a bilateral agreement on taxation.
A score of subsidiaries of large French groups and over 50 Panamanian companies created by the French have recently invested more than $ 700 million in this country and projected to reach 1,000 million in the coming years, according to the French Embassy.
"Panama is a mini mini Miami or Dubai. The first time you think that Panama is only one canal and when you look you see all the investments that you can do here," he told AFP Connti Marco, president of Alstom in Panama. Dubai, one of the wealthy Gulf Emirates, has gained fame in recent years for its skyscrapers and huge building projects, which have stimulated an increasing flow of tourists and investments.
Major companies such as GDF Suez, Degremont, Alstom and Vinci are interested in infrastructure projects by 14,000 million dollars to build a metro in the capital on the canal bridges, hospitals, prisons, airports or government agencies. There are also projects for the regional electricity interconnection, sanitation of the bay from the capital and the new digital television, apart from the expansion of the Canal, by 5200 million, which is already underway.
Other companies such as Sanofi, L'Oreal, Michelin and Total have been established in Panama his base of operations for Latin America. "An economy that grows at a rate faster than the rest of the region makes it impossible for French companies to be absent from Panama, told AFP the French Ambassador Hugues Goisbault. The Panamanian economy has grown at an average of 7% in each of the last five years and this year will reach 5%.
"Panama is one country that has great potential as a real need equipment," which, along with its political stability, its dollarized economy, its banking system and its geographical position makes it "arguably the most attractive country Central America, for its part said the commercial counselor of the French Embassy, Antoine Avila.
France will withdraw its proximity to Panama 'gray list' of tax havens, after reaching an agreement on double taxation, on Tuesday reported Panamanian Vice Minister of Economy, Frank de Lima.\
Paris to Panama had been included in the payroll following the parameters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which discourages some companies from operating in the country.
Panama now has eight sum taxation agreements with countries in the OECD, which requires 12 to remove the 'gray list' of tax havens. Panamanian officials say, with the agreement with Paris, French investments could now reach 2,000 million dollars in no time. "This is an interesting time to invest in Panama," said Ambassador Goisbault, who said he was confident that companies galas have "better luck than our friend Ferdinand de Lesseps, who wanted to make a canal without locks, a French attempt failed open the waterway in the nineteenth century.
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