| Daily News - 15 October 2003 |
The First Ladies of Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States and Canada are meeting in Santo Domingo over the next three days for the XII Conference of First Ladies, Wives, and Representatives of Heads of State and Government of the Americas. The focus of the conference being held at the auditorium of the Central Bank is to launch a hemispheric strategy for youth and the struggle against poverty. The conference is also intended as a forum for youth leaders from the Americas, who will identify the top health and education issues. Included on the agenda of the first ladies is a welcome at the Hotel Embajador, reports Hoy newspaper, a dinner at the Presidential Palace, a ceremony to receive the keys of Santo Domingo from Mayor Roberto Salcedo, a tour of the Colonial City and another dinner at the Museo de las Casas Reales. Named participants are: Patricia Bird (Antigua and Barbuda), Graciela Bernadette Christie (Bahamas), Beverley Arthur (Barbados), Joan Musa (Belize), Ximena Iturralde de Sanchez de Lozada (Bolivia), Aline Chretien (Canada), Lina Maria Moreno de Uribe (Colombia), Leila Rodriguez de Pachedo (Costa Rica), Eudora Shaw (Dominica), Ximena Bohorquez de Gutierrez (Ecuador), Lourdes Rodriguez de Flores (El Salvador), Marietta Mitchell (Granada), Evelyn Morataya de Portillo (Guatemala), Varshnie Jagdeo (Guyana), Mildred Aristide (Haiti), Aguas Ocana de Maduro (Honduras), Lady Ivy Cooke (Jamaica), Marta Sahagun de Fox (Mexico), Lila T. Abanza de Bolanos (Nicaragua), Ruby Moscoso de Young (Panama), Maria Gloria Penayo de Duarte (Paraguay), Denzil Douglas (St. Kitts and Nevis), and Laura Welch Bush (United States). Wives of attending prime ministers are: Eloise Gonsalves Nee Harris (St. Vincent & the Grenadines), Rose-Marie Belle Antonie (St. Lucia), Liesbeth Venetiaan Vanenberg, Suriname, Oma Panday (Trinidad & Tobago). The first ladies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela will be absent.
The Dominican Republic should concentrate on its service industry, miscellaneous manufactured items, apparel, leather products and electronic components, said Frederic Emam Zade, as these are the areas in which it has unearthed a competitive advantage. As the director of economic development at the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, Emam Zade made the recommendations during the seminar titled "Dominican-American Relations: Building Bridges for Development", which was held at Columbia University in New York City on 13 October. Emam Zade said that in services, the DR is the most competitive exporter of the hemisphere, mainly for its tourism. The DR was ranked slightly ahead of the US for competitiveness, although fared less well for diversity. Emam Zade forecasts that in the next 10 years, communications will experience the fastest pace of growth, followed by manufacturing, commerce, construction, farming, tourism, transport, and the home ownership sector. He sees the export free zones stagnating to an eventual decline starting around 2010. For highlights on the economic perspectives, see http://dr1.com/news/2003/101503_Eco.pdf
The International Monetary Fund released yesterday a summary of the conclusions of its 29 August consultations with the Dominican Republic. The IMF directors recommend increasing revenue while curtailing government expenditures to limit the budget deficit and emphasize the need for the government to adopt comprehensive tax and expenditure reforms. "Directors urged the authorities to advance approval of a tax reform to broaden the base of consumption and income taxes, and to seek prompt approval of budgetary reforms to improve the efficiency of public spending," states the report. The directors welcomed the decision to unify the exchange market and the authorities' commitment to a fully flexible exchange rate policy. The IMF feels that to realize medium-term growth potential the country will require structure reforms beyond those in the systems of banking and governance. On the positive side, the IMF highlights the fact that exports and tourism have recovered so far in 2003, and that imports have fallen as a result of the downturn in domestic demand and a sharp depreciation of the peso. The IMF states that the external current account showed a 1% surplus of the GDP in the first half of the year, after a deficit of 4% in 2002. Notwithstanding, the financial account has weakened acutely, even after the placement of US$600 million in sovereign bonds in early 2003. This is attributed in part to the decline in direct foreign investment and capital outflows. The IMF attributes the downturn of the economy, after strong economic performance during 1992-2000, to a series of external shocks that began in 2001: rising oil prices, 9/11, and the economic slowdown in the US and Europe. It explains, however, that the biggest blow was the breakdown in the banking sector, which was met with monetary expansion by the government and a sequence of economic complications. The IMF attributes the banking crisis to governance problems that went undetected for many years, including accounting malpractices, mismanagement and fraud. It applauds the authorities for having launched a comprehensive program to strengthen the banking system. To read the report, see http://dr1.com/news/2003/101503_IMF.pdf
Marisol Vicens, president of the National Young Entrepreneurs Association (ANJE), says that the proposed foreign exchange tax violates the Monetary and Financial Law. She says that the law establishes in Article 85 that any obstacle to free convertibility of currency, as of 3 December 2003, is illegal. The presidents of the Chamber of Deputy and the Senate met this week with President Hipolito Mejia to discuss the bill that may be advanced by the government as it attempts to increase its revenues.
William Malamud, executive vice-president of the American Chamber of Commerce, criticized the policy of X-raying export containers by a new company, as approved by Congress. "With this X-ray machine not tied in to any system there will be no benefits, only costs," he said. As reported in Hoy newspaper, shipper Gustavo Tavares and Jose Mella, speaking for the Association of Shippers, said that the ICSSI company that will verify the containers would require the shipping companies to provide information that they consider to be confidential between shippers and their clients. He said that the shipping agents are only required to give this information to the government (Ports Authority or Customs Department) and not to any private entity. Mella explained that in providing this information to a third party, the shipper is liable for containers that are detoured or in cases where the cargo is stolen. "Until now, even if we have been requested to provide the information, we have not been authorized to do so by the international shipping lines," stated Mella. Furthermore, while all containers would be obliged to pay the new charge that ranges from US$25 to US$85, the company will only have capacity to actually inspect 10% of the shipments. Mella felt that the BAS program of the United States government is a much better alternative and said the authorization of the controversial company is a rule change that would considerably increase the operation costs at the Caucedo Multimodal Port, expected to enter into operation at the end of this year. "This is a very negative signal for foreign investment in the country," he said. The X-ray operation system has been rejected by all business sectors in the Dominican Republic.
Residents in Santiago and Puerto Plata experienced tremors this morning, as the strongest of a series of aftershocks arrived following the 22 September 6.5 earthquake that shook Puerto Plata, unsettled Santiago, and was felt in Santo Domingo, although with less intensity. According to the US Geological Survey, this morning's aftershock was of a 4.6 magnitude and occurred at 7:48am local time. The earthquake's epicenter was determined to be near Santiago, 30kms from Puerto Plata and 140kms from Santo Domingo. For further observations on the earthquake, check DR1's message board or see http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_zyak.html
The Cubs -and likely every banca and colmado in the Dominican Republic - were on the edge of their seats late last night. With only five outs to go, Sammy Sosa's Cubs were on the brink of their first World Series berth since 1945. Incredibly, what seemed a sure thing quickly came crashing down on the Cubbies. Oddly enough, it was a Chicago fan that changed the momentum of a game the Cubs had seemingly won. With one out in the decisive eighth inning, a Cubs fan along the left field line attempted to catch a foul ball and interfered with Moises Alou, who was preparing to make the catch - and the second out of the fateful inning. Alou stated later that he would have definitely caught the ball and video replays indicated it to be possible as well. Adding to the heartache moments later, Alex Gonzalez failed to glove a grounder to his right for an error. While the potential double-play ball could have ended the inning, it instead loaded the bases and Derek Lee followed with a double that gave the Marlins the lead and eventually the game. Kerry Wood goes up for the Cubs against Florida's Mark Redman tonight at 8pm. Meanwhile in the American League's Red Sox-Yankees game, Alfonso Soriano knocked in the decisive run in a second inning rally and made a great defensive play to quell a Boston recovery, putting the Yankees within one win of their 39th American League pennant. Manny Ramirez drove in Boston's first run with his second homer of the series (16th career post-season HR), shuffling him ahead of Babe Ruth into fifth place all time. Today's game starts at 4pm.
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