President Luis Abinader speaks.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic--“Invest, visit us, support and bet on this country. It is a safe bet. I guarantee it,” said President Luis Abinader. In his address, “DR 2022: Democracy, stability and growth”, he spoke of the opportunities ahead for the country to strengthen its new positioning as the commercial and logistics hub in the Caribbean.
Abinader highlighted the country’s exemplary management of the pandemic, double-digit growth rates, the possibility of investment in the future’s leading sectors, and legal certainty.
He said 64.8 per cent of the target population has been fully vaccinated, which has allowed the reducing of restrictive measures and the relaunching the economy, particularly tourism. He stressed that by the end of this year the Dominican Republic (DR) economy will have recovered all the jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and also managed to grow by 11 per cent.
Abinader stressed that the country has cooperation instruments and economic activity incentives that generate jobs. He said the country has one of the most stable democracies and is immersed in a fight against corruption in times when there has been regression in the Latin American region.
He spoke of the building of the post-pandemic paradigm and the first signs of structural changes that impact the way goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed. He called American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic AMCHAMDR a close collaborator of the government and spoke of the joint work to improve the business climate and take advantage of nearshoring to strengthen the position of the DR as the commercial and logistic hub of the Caribbean.
Fight against corruption
He said the DR has already moved from being classified as a “weak democracy” to a “medium performance democracy” by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in 2020. This is the first time since the beginning of the 21st century.
He added that the DR was, by far, the country in the region that most increased its score in the Anti-Corruption Capacity Index CCC, corresponding to the year 2021.
He insisted that for the first time in the country’s history, the Prosecutor’s Office is independent from political power, one of the most significant demands of social movements and civil society.
In the actions for transparency, he mentioned creating a programme for regulatory compliance in public contracting and monitoring committees; and the approval of a General Plan for the Reform and Modernisation of the Public Administration – also, more recently, the enactment of the new Customs Law and the Law for Regulatory Improvement and Simplification of Procedures.
Abinader said that the Presidency is working on a bill that will modify the Comptroller of the Republic Office to make it more effective.
Likewise, he added, the Executive Branch is working with experts and friendly governments such as the United States to reform and modernise the National Police.
Foreign investment
President Abinader stressed that another immediate priority of the government is to boost foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports, an objective even before the pandemic. “Our country is in a privileged position, having a geographical location in the centre of the Caribbean, with very stable economic fundamentals and enviable comparative and competitive advantages,” said Abinader. “Global value chains have become shorter, bringing production centres closer to consumer markets, a phenomenon known as nearshoring,” he explained.
In this context, the relationship with the US becomes even more relevant for the country. “The government’s immediate priority is to boost foreign direct investment and exports. This was our objective even before the pandemic. We hope this year we will attract another US $3 billion in FDI,” said the president.
He stressed that more investments mean more exports, and exports increase employment.
To strengthen relations with the US, he said the government is working closely with Costa Rica and Panama. The “Alliance for Development in Democracy” initiative has three areas of action: politics, cooperation and economy. He spoke of the three-country summit that will take place in Puerto Plata, today and tomorrow, December 10-11, to follow up on the work that began when the three countries’ presidents met at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021.
“It is worth noting that the total trade with the US of our three economies would place us, if we were a single country, as the third-largest partner of the US, with more than US $86 billion in the last 2.5 years. This makes our alliance a significant event in the region,” he said.
Relations with the United States
President Abinader said the relationship with the US is especially strategic for the country. “Our government and I, who speak to you, have shown the will and willingness to strengthen and enhance these relations,” he said.
He cited as an example of these relations, the invitation of President Joe Biden to his government to participate with a starring role in the ongoing virtual Summit for Democracy, December 9-10.
Abinader said that in line with the US intention to review its supply chain for strategic sectors, the government is creating the conditions for companies seeking to produce closer to the US to do so from DR territory (nearshoring).
He sees opportunities for the DR in the sectors identified by President Biden’s “100 Day Supply Chain Review Report”. He mentioned large capacity batteries, personal protective equipment and medical products.
He recalled that in line with that strategy, the government issued Decree 621-12 that instructs the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSME, the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the National Competitiveness Council to prepare a report within 90 days, to identify the opportunities and challenges arising for the Dominican Republic as a result of the reconfiguration of global supply and value chains. The entities are drafting in consultation with the private sector a comprehensive report on nearshoring.
He emphasised that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has been meeting for some time with US companies that currently have their production in Asia, but are interested in taking advantage of the Central America-DR-US Free Trade Agreement DR-CAFTA, the memorandum of understanding and the country’s proximity to the US.
Fastest growing economy
For his part, AMCHAMDR Executive Vice President William Malamud said that despite the challenges generated by the pandemic, the DR’s economy is the fastest-growing in the hemisphere, with record exports, a tourism sector on track to set a new record and increased foreign investment.
“It has been immensely gratifying for our chamber to work hand in hand with an administration that shares the same priorities: first and foremost, democracy and the rule of law,” said Malamud.
Meanwhile, AMCHAMDR President Roberto Herrera pointed to the great opportunities for growth. “If we link public-private collaboration with the bilateral relationship we have been cultivating with the United States, we can turn the next decade into an authentic cycle of growth and modernisation for our country,” he said. He said this includes creating the 600,000 new jobs that President Abinader has as a realistic goal for the private sector.
Herrera spoke of the American Chamber of Commerce’s collaboration with the public sector on initiatives such as Logistics, Nearshoring, Bureaucracy 0 and Digital Transformation roundtables, which are co-led by the Ministry of the Presidency and AMCHAMDR. The advances in the 24-hour Customs clearance service and the regulation of teleworking stand out among the first achievements.
Nearly two million Dominicanos live in the United States. During the first 10 months of 2021, these Dominicanos had sent more than US $7.3 billion in remittances, or 85 per cent of the total remittances. The US is the source of more than 40 per cent of the tourists who visit the country. Trade between the two countries is more than US $15 billion a year.
Others of government that attended the December 8 AMCHAMDR luncheon were president of the Senate, Eduardo Estrella; Ministers Lisandro Macarrulla (Presidency); Roberto Álvarez (Foreign Relations); Víctor Bisonó (Industry & Commerce) and Luis Miguel de Camps (Labor) and General Director of Customs, Eduardo Sanz Lovatón. ~ DR1 ~
