NewsWhore
04-07-2010, 09:30 PM
Politicians, business leaders and civil society representatives have spoken out in response to yesterday's news that the proposed sale of 49% of shares of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) to Venezuela's state petroleum company PDVSA was going ahead.
The Dominican Republic Industries Association (AIRD), the National Business Council (CONEP), the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), as well as PRD leaders Miguel Vargas Maldonado, Milagros Ortiz Bosch and Hugo Tolentino Dipp have all raised questions about the deal.
AIRD president Manuel Diez Cabral insists the sale of 49% of the shares to Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) will place the country at the mercy of the geopolitical interests of a foreign state that does not respect either property rights or free enterprise and with evident intentions to provide benefits for the DR in exchange for possible concessions that perhaps the country is not seeing at this time. He pointed out that regardless of all that has been said publicly about the sale, the process has lacked transparency, since the real details of the conditions, the amount of the investments and the mechanisms for the distribution of fuels are not known.
Servio Tulio Castanos Guzman of Finjus called for the shares purchase to be submitted to a public tender. He said that the process did not meet the requirements of the Law for
Contracting Goods and Services. The National Business Council (CONEP) said it maintains its opinion issued on 18 June 2009, when the leading business organization warned that the sale of 49% of the shares of the Refinery to the government of Venezuela could be a mistake and expose the country to risks. The sale could be interpreted as a way of obtaining a strategic ally in this crucial sector of the social and economic life of the Dominican nation, but it was important to remember that Venezuela maintains an adverse policy against business.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
The Dominican Republic Industries Association (AIRD), the National Business Council (CONEP), the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), as well as PRD leaders Miguel Vargas Maldonado, Milagros Ortiz Bosch and Hugo Tolentino Dipp have all raised questions about the deal.
AIRD president Manuel Diez Cabral insists the sale of 49% of the shares to Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) will place the country at the mercy of the geopolitical interests of a foreign state that does not respect either property rights or free enterprise and with evident intentions to provide benefits for the DR in exchange for possible concessions that perhaps the country is not seeing at this time. He pointed out that regardless of all that has been said publicly about the sale, the process has lacked transparency, since the real details of the conditions, the amount of the investments and the mechanisms for the distribution of fuels are not known.
Servio Tulio Castanos Guzman of Finjus called for the shares purchase to be submitted to a public tender. He said that the process did not meet the requirements of the Law for
Contracting Goods and Services. The National Business Council (CONEP) said it maintains its opinion issued on 18 June 2009, when the leading business organization warned that the sale of 49% of the shares of the Refinery to the government of Venezuela could be a mistake and expose the country to risks. The sale could be interpreted as a way of obtaining a strategic ally in this crucial sector of the social and economic life of the Dominican nation, but it was important to remember that Venezuela maintains an adverse policy against business.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)