NewsWhore
01-27-2009, 04:20 PM
The multi-sector summit convened by President Leonel Fernandez will start tomorrow with seven basic themes and without the government giving any signs that they will honor what is agreed upon in the talks.
As reported in most of today's newspapers, and by Diario Libre in particular, Minister of Economy, Planning and Development Temistocles Montas described the call to a dialogue as a sign of the government's willingness to take on the agreements as obligations. "This is the first sign that there is a will on the part of the government to fulfill the agreements reached by society as a whole," said Montas. The official outlined the agenda of the dialogue in a press conference together with the rest of the summit organizing committee: Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, Antonio Isa Conde and Jose del Castillo.
On the issue of the conditions imposed by some participants, Montas said that the postponement of the constitutional reform is in the hands of Congress, which has the power to make that decision.
Several leading business organizations have asked the government to postpone acting on its proposal for an expanded Constitution at least until after the summit.
The summit organizing committee confirmed that the summit would start tomorrow at the Hilton Hotel and announced that about 100 organizations would be taking part.
The entities will be divided into work groups according to the seven themes. The list begins with "economy and competitiveness", and is followed by "citizen security" and "social policy". These are followed by "institutional consolidation," "electricity and hydro-carbons", "territorial development, municipal management and the environment" and the seventh point is "migration and the frontier."
On Wednesday the 28th, at 9 o'clock in the morning, the participants will set up the work groups and the ministers responsible for each particular area will represent the government in each group.
From the 30th January until 9th February, meetings between the sectors at each of the work groups will take place; from the 10th of February until the 15th, working sessions will take place between the teams and representatives of the government and foreign witnesses, and from the 16th until the 20th of February, the working documents will be drawn up for presentation at a general assembly on 21 February.
On 27th February, the day when the President is due to present his report on 2008 to Congress, he will announce the plan of actions that should be carried out this year.
Former Inter-American Development Bank president Enrique Iglesias and Latin American Economic Commission (ECLAC) executive secretary Alicia Barcenas will attend as witnesses.
After the 27th February, and until the middle of May, the industrial, commercial and banking sectors will meet to discuss the national development strategy.
On the eve of the opening debates, the Citizens' Forum, that includes 14 organizations, continues to express doubts that anything will come of the talks. "What we are saying is that the lack of confidence is quite widespread," said the secretary general, Magino Corporan. The 1J4 Socialist Party criticized the fact that some sectors did not submit really important issues for discussion.
The PRD Political Commission will meet today to decide whether or not to take part in the summit. Party president Ramon Alburquerque listed four conditions that the party wants in order to participate: That the government should accept the constitutional reform via a constituent assembly; that it should accept that it violated the Constitution with the Sun Land loan; that it should obey the sectorial legislation and comply with the Austerity Law. Former PRD presidential candidate Miguel Vargas insisted that the government has to gain public confidence by postponing the constitutional reform process and by making several budget adjustments this year. Montas said "We will be sorry if the PRD does not attend the summit, but the summit will go on nevertheless, because it represents the main sectors of the country." Agripino Nunez Collado reminded PRD sympathizers about the participation by late party leader Jose Francisco Pena Gomez when the parties negotiated an agreement after the 1994 election crisis.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
As reported in most of today's newspapers, and by Diario Libre in particular, Minister of Economy, Planning and Development Temistocles Montas described the call to a dialogue as a sign of the government's willingness to take on the agreements as obligations. "This is the first sign that there is a will on the part of the government to fulfill the agreements reached by society as a whole," said Montas. The official outlined the agenda of the dialogue in a press conference together with the rest of the summit organizing committee: Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, Antonio Isa Conde and Jose del Castillo.
On the issue of the conditions imposed by some participants, Montas said that the postponement of the constitutional reform is in the hands of Congress, which has the power to make that decision.
Several leading business organizations have asked the government to postpone acting on its proposal for an expanded Constitution at least until after the summit.
The summit organizing committee confirmed that the summit would start tomorrow at the Hilton Hotel and announced that about 100 organizations would be taking part.
The entities will be divided into work groups according to the seven themes. The list begins with "economy and competitiveness", and is followed by "citizen security" and "social policy". These are followed by "institutional consolidation," "electricity and hydro-carbons", "territorial development, municipal management and the environment" and the seventh point is "migration and the frontier."
On Wednesday the 28th, at 9 o'clock in the morning, the participants will set up the work groups and the ministers responsible for each particular area will represent the government in each group.
From the 30th January until 9th February, meetings between the sectors at each of the work groups will take place; from the 10th of February until the 15th, working sessions will take place between the teams and representatives of the government and foreign witnesses, and from the 16th until the 20th of February, the working documents will be drawn up for presentation at a general assembly on 21 February.
On 27th February, the day when the President is due to present his report on 2008 to Congress, he will announce the plan of actions that should be carried out this year.
Former Inter-American Development Bank president Enrique Iglesias and Latin American Economic Commission (ECLAC) executive secretary Alicia Barcenas will attend as witnesses.
After the 27th February, and until the middle of May, the industrial, commercial and banking sectors will meet to discuss the national development strategy.
On the eve of the opening debates, the Citizens' Forum, that includes 14 organizations, continues to express doubts that anything will come of the talks. "What we are saying is that the lack of confidence is quite widespread," said the secretary general, Magino Corporan. The 1J4 Socialist Party criticized the fact that some sectors did not submit really important issues for discussion.
The PRD Political Commission will meet today to decide whether or not to take part in the summit. Party president Ramon Alburquerque listed four conditions that the party wants in order to participate: That the government should accept the constitutional reform via a constituent assembly; that it should accept that it violated the Constitution with the Sun Land loan; that it should obey the sectorial legislation and comply with the Austerity Law. Former PRD presidential candidate Miguel Vargas insisted that the government has to gain public confidence by postponing the constitutional reform process and by making several budget adjustments this year. Montas said "We will be sorry if the PRD does not attend the summit, but the summit will go on nevertheless, because it represents the main sectors of the country." Agripino Nunez Collado reminded PRD sympathizers about the participation by late party leader Jose Francisco Pena Gomez when the parties negotiated an agreement after the 1994 election crisis.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)