Advantages of doing business in Panama’s Colon Free Zone

Panama was rated as the best place to start a business in Latin America and the 31st best place to start a business globally by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
With the dollar as legal tender, low inflation rate, zero foreign exchange risk, investor-friendly legal and regulatory regimes, and attractive incentives, it is relatively easy to do business in Panama. “In addition, the government is stable, democratic, and business friendly,” said Victor Valdivieso, Executive Director of the Colon Chamber of Commerce.
Panama has bilateral free trade agreements with Chile, El Salvador, Taiwan, Singapore, Honduras, and Costa Rica. Valdivieso indicated that the US-Panama Free Trade Agreement, awaiting ratification by the U.S. Congress, would help increase the already large volume of trade between the two countries.
Trade between Panama and the United States in 2007 amounted to over $4 billion in goods. With ratification of the US-Panama Free Trade Agreement, this relationship is expected to expand, eliminating more than 80 percent of the tariffs on US industrial and consumer goods exported to Panama, providing significant new duty-free access for American farmers and ranchers, and creating opportunities for more American businesses.
Panama is the owner of the world’s largest merchant fleet all having to pass through Colon. The Colon Free Zone has ISO 9001-2000 certification and maintains the high quality of its management systems, according to the ISO Quality Management Systems’ standards, to ensure re-certification. Also, in the Colon Free Zone, goods imported and re-exported enjoy total tax exemptions.
Nilda Quijano, general manager of the Colon Free Zone, said that the private sector and the government “will maintain the prestige that has been known to characterize the Free Zone.” She added, “Our greatest efforts will be put into effect in order to achieve our goals in this world of globalization.”