NewsWhore
05-17-2011, 03:50 PM
Instead of thinking about eliminating the free trade agreement that the Dominican Republic has with Central America and isolating itself, the country should prepare itself better to compete. The president of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), Ligia Bonetti de Valiente made this statement in response to an announcement by PRD presidential candidate, the former President Hipolito Mejia. Mejia said that if he returns to power he would review several commercial treaties, especially with Central America, which he would suspend in the face of the competition represented by Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Meanwhile, a government source linked to the commercial sector told Diario Libre that just mentioning that the country might resign from an agreement already signed is prejudicial, and that this should be analyzed with the commercial partners in order to see about such feasibility. Bonetti said that the country should prepare itself to compete, not shut its doors. She told reporters that the fundamental problem is that the Dominican Republic has not made the most of the free trade agreements because it lacks the working conditions and a strong exporting culture within the private sector.
During his participation in the Dialogo Libre session organized by the Omnimedia Group, Mejia said that the review of the free trade agreements that the Dominican Republic has signed would be one of the central axes of the economic policy of a possible new administration, since he feels that the economic crisis requires the suspension of some of them. Mejia also said that he would review the energy contracts and that he would study a readjustment of the price of electricity to the reality of the country as he did in his previous administration (2000-2004).
In response to this last point, the Dominican Electricity Industry Association (ADIE) says that "any investment in any economic sector is quite related to transparency and institutionalism that exists in the sector and the country, and the electricity contracts are one of those aspects that should be respected if one does not want to affect the flow of investments." Milton Morrison, the executive vice-president of the ADIE, cited the investments that the sector had made that are reflected in next August's inauguration of the Los Cocos Wind Power Park, by Ege-Haina, as well as that made by Seaboard, which is in the process of installing a 108 MW natural gas generator at a cost of US$135 million.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
Meanwhile, a government source linked to the commercial sector told Diario Libre that just mentioning that the country might resign from an agreement already signed is prejudicial, and that this should be analyzed with the commercial partners in order to see about such feasibility. Bonetti said that the country should prepare itself to compete, not shut its doors. She told reporters that the fundamental problem is that the Dominican Republic has not made the most of the free trade agreements because it lacks the working conditions and a strong exporting culture within the private sector.
During his participation in the Dialogo Libre session organized by the Omnimedia Group, Mejia said that the review of the free trade agreements that the Dominican Republic has signed would be one of the central axes of the economic policy of a possible new administration, since he feels that the economic crisis requires the suspension of some of them. Mejia also said that he would review the energy contracts and that he would study a readjustment of the price of electricity to the reality of the country as he did in his previous administration (2000-2004).
In response to this last point, the Dominican Electricity Industry Association (ADIE) says that "any investment in any economic sector is quite related to transparency and institutionalism that exists in the sector and the country, and the electricity contracts are one of those aspects that should be respected if one does not want to affect the flow of investments." Milton Morrison, the executive vice-president of the ADIE, cited the investments that the sector had made that are reflected in next August's inauguration of the Los Cocos Wind Power Park, by Ege-Haina, as well as that made by Seaboard, which is in the process of installing a 108 MW natural gas generator at a cost of US$135 million.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)