Manning on FTA

[NewsWhore]

Kevin Manning, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic (AmCham), said that two recent Ministry of Industry and Commerce resolutions are stumbling blocks for the start up of the DR-CAFTA agreement. Both decisions from the ministry concern the regulation of fuel haulage across the country, and Manning says that they contravene the free trade treaty, and it will therefore be necessary to find some sort of solution to this stalemate. The businessman, noted for his role in the energy sector, said that those two notes from the ministry are the reason that the United States has not given the go-ahead for the Dominican Republic to enter the agreement. The ministry's resolutions prevented Texaco-Chevron from taking over the transportation of its petroleum products in the Dominican Republic. These fuels are currently transported by contract carriers who allege violations of agreements and loss of privileges earned over time. Yesterday, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Francisco Javier Garcia, met with the nation's business leaders in an attempt to explain the rules that Texaco-Chevron is complaining about. No information was given to the press after the meeting. The government's official position is supposed to be announced today.

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