Experts from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and SMEs (MICM) explained the facilities and potential business opportunities that DR-CAFTA represents for the country, in the conference entitled “DR-CAFTA as a commercial platform for access to international markets”.
The presentation was in charge of the analyst of the legal department of the Department of Foreign Trade and Administration of Commercial Treaties (Dicoex), Ilena Rosario, who pointed out that according to preliminary figures from the General Directorate of Customs (DGA), exports to the countries of DR-CAFTA increased almost 15 percent, between the years 2016 and 2017.
He explained that according to figures from the DGA, in the last three years Dominican exports are directed more towards the countries with which the nation has commercial agreements, a press release from the Communications Directorate of the MICM.
“Since 2015, the value of these exports to countries that have agreements have increased by 12.1 percent, while exports to other nations have fallen by 12 percent,” he said in his dissertation.
Rosario also stressed that following the free trade agreement, the United States liberalized 97 percent of goods of Dominican origin, among which are tobacco, avocado, melon, roses, nuts and dates, as well as figs, pineapples, guavas, grapefruit and others.
The paper concluded by listing other benefits achieved as a result of the implementation of DR-CAFTA, such as the strengthening of national institutions, reduction of time to clear goods and the establishment of the Integrated Customs Management System (SIGA).
The activity was attended by Ignacio Méndez, Vice Minister of the Vice Ministry of Development of Mipymes, and Yarisol López, in charge of the Productive Chains Division of the National Council of Free Trade Zones (CNZFE).
Also, Noel Ureña, from the company Laboratorio MK; Virgilio Mota, representative of the Dominican Embassy in the United States and the business director of the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD), Vladimir Pimentel. .
The conference was addressed to students of the Master’s in Business Administration (MBA for its acronym in English) of the Universidad Iberoamericana (Unibe), as part of the collaboration agreement that the MICM signed, in 2012, with the aforementioned university.
The talk was held in one of the meeting halls of the university campus.