(VOVworld) - Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has underlined the scandal triggered by the Panama Papers leak of information on how and where the world's wealthy stash funds to avoid detection or taxes.

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela delivers keynote address at a luncheon during the Washington Conference on the Americas at the US State Department on May 3, 2016 in Washington, DC.

Speaking at the US State Department in Washington, the Panamanian president said the documents reveal a worldwide problem, that involves many countries, legal and financial institutions, and shows they are vulnerable to actions "that are not in the public interest." To that end, countries need to improve their transparency and information sharing, Varela said.
Panama and the United States last week signed an agreement on the sharing of account information, a step which was believed as proof of Panama’s cooperation in fighting tax evasion.
The bilateral agreement comes weeks after the Panama Papers, a series of reports from around the world revealing how the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca set up offshore entities to help the world's wealthy hide their assets. Following the revelations, Panama has come under intense international pressure to open its financial sector to greater transparency or risk being put back on a global "tax haven" blacklist.