The United States and the Dominican Republic Host Second High-Level Bilateral Dialogue on Institutional Reform

The cooperation between the United States of America and the Dominican Republic has grown in recent years, an example can be found in the first High-Level dialogue held at the beginning of 2021 where several signs of progress were made.

Furthermore, the situation has been even better and in the last months, as the authorities from both countries held the second High-Level Dialogue on Institutional reform. In this case, the dialogue was led by the Dominican president Luis Abinader and Samantha Power, the Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

During the second high dialogue, the authorities discussed and evaluated the progress made since the first dialogue in different work areas such as human rights, democracy, and transparency. Consequently, the president of the Dominican Republic reiterated his commitment to the dialogue and the establishment of the institutional reforms discussed during the meeting.

According to the competent authorities, the main area of progress can be summarized in certain key points:

The National Citizen Security Strategy and Police Transformation: This field was addressed with the technical support of the United States to transform the National Police through projects that modernize its Information and Technology Infrastructure and match the international standards.

Reform of Oversight Entities: To address the training needs of the Dominican Chamber of Accounts, both governments signed a memorandum of understanding that established the priorities of the cooperation. In this case, the Chamber of Accounts is the organism that manages the government accounting in the Dominican Republic.

Asset Forfeiture: In this area, the United States will provide technical assistance to draft legislation to institute a “system of civil asset forfeiture” that according to the US Embassy of the Dominican Republic will match the International best practices. Asset forfeiture represents a form of asset confiscation by the authorities.

Trafficking in Person: Through US assistance and in cooperation with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and civil society, a law will be presented to the Dominican Congress to enhance protection for trafficking victims, following an international standard.

Public Procurement: Lastly, the United States authorities have also provided assistance and technical support to the Dominican government in the development of a law on public procurement that matches with the best international practices.

Overall, the progress made in the last month in the Dominican Republic represents a huge step forward in the field of Institutional reform that will certainly have an impact on the national economy and international relations as well. The president of the country also mentioned the next steps of the process will be the implementation of these reforms.

According to the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic, the authorities also discussed the inclusion shortly of new reform commitments into the High-Level Dialogues, such as the reform of the electricity system, reform to facilitate the digital transformation of the national institutions, fiscal reform, and electoral reform. Undoubtedly, the Dominican Republic authorities will always seek to enhance cooperation under the best practices. Of course, if you want to know more about what is happening in this country you can contact us here at Mundo.

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The Dominican Republic Economy Will Close the Year with a Growth Rate of 10%

Every nation has struggled with the consequences of the Pandemic. However, we can witness some sights of improvement around the world and the Dominican Republic is not an exception, as according to International Organizations such as the International Monetary fund, the national economy will grow up to 10% at the end of this year, one of the most important recoveries in the region.

Besides, according to Hector Valdez, the Central Bank Governor, the Dominican Republic’s gross domestic product also reached a growth of 12.7% and might be even more positive at the end of the year. This growth can be attributed to specific activities such as Hotels, restaurants, bars, and a special mention to the construction; as these areas supported the increase of formal and informal employment. The special mention to the construction sector was made as according to the governor this was the activity with the highest impact on growth, representing almost 80% of gross fixed capital information.

Valdez also mentioned that tourism has recovered faster than expected with more than three million visitors arriving in the country in the last months. This makes sense as according to the competent authorities the most dynamic sectors in performance were the hotels, bars, and restaurants. In addition, the amount of non-resident visitors who entered the country in September and October increased by 13% in consideration of the same months of 2020.

Furthermore, the governor mentioned other important sectors such as manufacturing and their recovery of the 100% jobs suspended during the first months of the pandemic. It is important to mention that manufacturing represents an important share of the gross domestic product in the Dominican Republic and it’s also one of the greatest formal jobs generators.

To conclude, the governor also addressed the trade sector situation and explained that this activity had benefited from the increasing demand as a consequence of the mitigation of the coronavirus spread.

The Dominican Republic is one of the fastest-growing nations in the region. For that reason, this economic recovery does not represent a surprise for international projections. If you want to know more about this country and get to know about the business opportunities in the Dominican Republic you can contact us here at Mundo.

The Pueblo Viejo Project as an Opportunity for the Dominican People

There are a lot of business opportunities in the Dominican Republic, and undoubtedly, mining is one of the fastest developing business areas; as an example, we can find the extension project in the Pueblo Viejo mine complex of the Barrick Gold Corporation, which according to the company authorities will extend the facility life up to 2040.

It is important to underline this project because of all the benefits that have been brought to the Dominican people, starting with more than 2000 formal jobs for the native and a countless amount of development projects in more than fifty surrounding communities that had the objective to enhance the local economy with large investment and technical assistance.

The authorities of the company also highlight the role of the mine in the creation of value for the Dominican Republic, executive president Mark Bristow, stated that in the first stage of the mine, the company paid more than USD 500 million in taxes since the start of operations in 2013. Bristow also talked about the long-term goals in the Dominican Republic, stating that the company is looking to create a sustainable development strategy for investors and stakeholders that consequently, will have a positive impact on the national economy.

The Dominican Republic is having a tremendous recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and this is partly because of foreign investment in different sectors such as mining, tourism, real estate, or construction.

The Dominican President, Luis Abinader, promised when he was elected not only to increase the foreign investment, but also the creation of jobs for all the Dominican people. For that reason, the project in Pueblo Viejo represents a sign of progress in this mission.

The Dominican Republic is a tropical paradise and of course, one of the top destinations for vacations any time of the year. Besides, the country is considered friendly to investors or anyone interested in making business in the region, if you want to know more about this amazing country you can contact us here at Mundo.