Issue No.7 Dominican November 2006

HIGHLIGHTSA NEWSLETTER FROM THE EMBASSY OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Dominican Republic: Competitiveness and Secure Investment Environment

“The Global Competitiveness Report 2006- 2007” of the World Economic Forum lists the Dominican Republic among the five countries in the world that made the most advances in the area of competitiveness during the report year (other countries making advances included: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Guatemala).

This reflects a significant improvement of the DR’s investment environment, since this report is considered to be one of the main tools used to measure the risks and advan- President Fernandez Visits tages of investments around the world. The DR advanced 19 spots, from 102 to 83 in the index, situating itself, together with Guatemala, as one of the countries advanc- Washington, D.C. ing the most in this area in the region. DR IMPROVES IN RISK The President of the Dominican QUALIFICATION Republic, H. E. Leonel Fernandez Fitch Ratings recently raised the arrived in Washington, D.C. Dominican Republic's B rating from on Tuesday, October 24th for stable to positive due to the impres- sive strength of the country’s eco- a four day visit in which he met nomic recovery and the expectation with President George W. Bush to that the government will be better suited to make significant progress discuss a range of issues, including on its structural reform agenda now free trade and economic growth, that it has a majority in Congress. energy security, and continued This news came less than six weeks cooperation in areas of mutual after S&P improved the Dominican Republic’s credit outlook from sta- interest. ble to positive.

This positive outlook was also prompt- resident Bush praised the economic growth achieved by President Fernandez’s administra- ed by: a very robust pace of economic tion, thanking him for his “leadership in the hemisphere” and assured “that we will imple- growth, declining inflation, currency Pment DR-CAFTA as quickly as possible, as soon as possible.” During his visit, President stability, a significant fiscal adjustment, Fernandez also met with U.S. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, International Monetary Fund a favorable balance of payments per- Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and Inter-American formance, a steady increase of foreign Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno. reserves, a relatively low and improv- ing external and public debt burden Before his departure, the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted President and continued progress under its cur- Fernandez, where he spoke at length to a group of attentive listeners. President Fernandez also rent IMF program. DH visited the offices of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. DH Dominican HIGHLIGHTS

Port of Caucedo Certified as CSI Port President Fernandez DP World's marine terminal at the Port of Caucedo, Dominican Republic, recently Addresses Prominent became one of nine ports in the Americas to join the United States anti-terrorist Container Security Initiative (CSI), smoothing the way Hispanic Business for faster delivery of goods to the U.S. for its customers. Other CSI ports can be found in Leaders in Canada, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Honduras, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Philadelphia CSI is currently operational in 50 ports in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North, South and Central America. CSI is His Excellency, designed to identify and examine high-risk President Leonel containers destined for the U.S. As part of Fernandez, recently the initiative, Custom Border Protection radiation detection equipment initially sup- gave a speech to a (CBP) officers are stationed at the terminal, plied by CBP. group of prominent working closely with local authorities and the Hispanic business terminal operator. Radiation detection equip- CSI began after 9/11 terrorist attacks in the leaders in Philadelphia ment is also installed. At Caucedo, CBP offi- United States. It is based on the idea of during the U.S. cers will work at the terminal on a pilot basis. extending the U.S. zone of security outward, Hispanic Chamber of DP World is currently investing in radiation so that American borders are the last line of Commerce 27th detection equipment, which will replace the defense, not the first. DH Annual National Convention & Business Expo.

During the speech, President Fernandez JUAN MARICHAL HONORED AT THE 20TH assured North-American, Dominican and ANNIVERSARY OF THE HISPANIC HERITAGE AWARDS Latin industrialists that one of his priorities is to turn the Dominican Republic into a leading center for investment and export Ambassador Flavio Dario Espinal and Ms. Minerva de Espinal recently in the Caribbean. He assured those pre- hosted a reception in honor of the Dominican “baseball great,” Juan sent that his administration is developing a Marichal, who recently received the Hispanic Heritage Award in the strategy to continue expanding the free sports category Hall-of- Fame. trade zone sector in the country.

Mr. Marichal is one of the most celebrated pitchers in Major League President Fernandez also stated that his Baseball history. His sixteen year career led him to become the first government plans to convert the country Dominican National in the Baseball Hall of Fame. into a leading center for high technology investment and noted that these efforts Also present at the reception were: the prominent Dominican actress Judy Reyes from NBC's complemented the priorities of his first “Scrubs,” Dania Ramirez from the HBO drama “The Sopranos” and “X Men: The Last Stand,” and presidential term (1996-2000), which Judy Ramirez from the TV dramas “Law and Order,” “X's and O's,” “The Jury,” and others. DH included work to create a Cybernetic Park and a Technological Institute of the Americas. The purpose of these facilities is to ensure that young Dominicans receive DR Economy Continues Thriving necessary training in new technologies. President Fernandez also highlighted that The Governor of the Dominican Republic period from July to September in excess of the Dominican Republic represents a Central Bank, Hector Valdez Albizu, recently DR$8,978 million (about US$272 million), strong investment potential for investors, made a presentation about the state of the econ- which reflects an increase of 17% with particularly given the easy entrance to omy from January through September 2006. respect to the same period in 2005. the U.S. market place as a result of the Dominican Republic- Central America In his speech, the Governor highlighted that Central Bank accumulation of reserves Free Trade Agreement . DH after experiencing a growth rate of 9.3% in increased from a mere two weeks worth of 2005, the Dominican economy grew at a rate imports in 2004, to more than three and one of 11.3% during the first nine months of 2006, half months worth of imports for the current which is proof of the consolidation of the year. Net liquid international reserves cur- economic recovery. According to the rently constitute 40% of the monetary emis- Governor, never before in the economic his- sion, which represents quite a departure from tory of the country, has a growth rate above the negative numbers seen in 2004. the two digit level been registered for five consecutive quarters. Public debt as a percentage of GDP, which grew from 23% in 2000 to 53% in 2004, is EMBASSY OF THE During the same period, the inflation rate was now decreasing steadily, going from 43.1% DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 3.46%. The projection for the cumulative in 2005 to 42.9% in the first half of 2006. inflation for the end of the year is 6%, which is in harmony with the 2006 goals set by the These improved macroeconomic perfor- 1715 22ND STREET N.W. Stand-by Agreement with the International mance indicators played a key role in why WASHINGTON D.C. 20008 Monetary Fund (IMF). the Dominican Republic has recently seen PHONE: 202 332 6280 significant improvements in its risk ratings FAX: 202 265 8057 Also notable, the banking system made loan with Standard & Poors, Fitch & Co. and disbursements to the private sector for the Moody's. DH