President Leonel Fernandez is asking the so-called "diaspora" of Dominicans living abroad to continue providing positive examples of hard workers and to contribute their skills and experience to a national development strategy. Clave Digital reports that the President was speaking after swearing in the Advisory Council of the city of Chicago. This council is made up of over 20 outstanding Dominicans who live in the city. Fernandez asked Dominicans residing abroad to join efforts to promote a positive force that will call attention to the Dominican Republic. President Fernandez spoke to the Dominican expatriates as part of his week-long tour to the United States.
Eduardo Wallentin, speaking for the International Financing Corporation (IFC), the private sector financing branch of the World Bank, commended the work of President Leonel Fernandez, and his efforts that have lead the country's economy to a speedy recovery. Walletin spoke of expectations that DR-CAFTA will be favorable for the Dominican economy. During the meeting, Walletin also expressed the need to continue strengthening institutions and increasing transparency. IFC has an investment portfolio of US$384 million of which US$268 million are for organizations own investment, and US116 million are for private investments.
Dominican Week activities highlight the contributions made by Dominicans, and the Dominican community to the city, and also serve as a celebration for Dominican culture, customs, and history, in the United States. They also look to provide vehicles for development for the Dominican community in the U.S.
The activities will have the participation of many groups such as, the American Chamber of Commerce, Foundation for Global Democracy and Development, Professional Group of Dominicans from Washington, and Dominicans on Wall Street. President Leonel Fernandez will also participate in the activities when he will give a speech on Wednesday of this week in New York City.
A recent study by the Quisqueya Foundation, published in the Diario Digital RD, reported that there are more than 1,500,000 Dominicans living outside the Dominican Republic, and that the number of immigrants from the Dominican Republic grew by 17.5 percent between 2000 and 2005. The study reports that the expatriate Dominican community grew to 1,371,441 people during the same time-span, and that the growth in percentage represents an increase of 257,364 people. Frank Valenzuela is the president of the Quisqueya group, and economist Hector Frias is the executive director.
The report is based on statistics from the American Community Survey from the United States Census Bureau, the National Statistics Institute, the Spanish Interior Ministry, as well as the German Federal Statistics Office, and the EU Statistics Office. Other sources included the census offices of Panama, Venezuela, and Canada, as well studies by the Office of International Migration, which analyses migration trends from Latin America.
The report notes that the strongest Dominican migration flow is towards the United States, and that the number of Dominican immigrants in the US increased by 2% during the five-year span. The report also specifies that the Dominican community in Puerto Rico grew by 6%, which represents 16,088 people, bringing the total amount of Dominicans in Puerto Rico to 91,632
The Dominican community in Spain grew by 5% during this period, making Spain the third most popular destination for Dominican migrants. The Dominican communities in Italy and Germany experienced a 45% growth between 2000-2005, increasing to 20,159 people.
Venezuela and Panama reported a Dominican population of 29,384, an increase of 5,791 people, while Dominicans in Canada increased to 16,574 people.
In the light of increasing Dominican migration, the report urges the Dominican government to hold a summit to plan public policies that would facilitate the development and sustainability of expatriate communities alongside the development of the Dominican Republic.
Valenzuela and Frias call for the creation of a National Secretariat for Dominicans in the Exterior, which would serve as an intermediary for Dominican policy in the country and Dominicans abroad. The economist also urged leaders of the various Dominican communities abroad to join their political, social, economic, institutional and cultural resources with those similar resources in the country, which would be beneficial to all involved.
On the heels of the report, Brunson McKinley, Director General of the Office of International Migration, will be arriving in the Dominican Republic to meet with the vice-president, the Police and Interior Minister, the director of the Migration office, and members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the concept of "migration for development."
Excavations have started for the Santo Domingo Metro's Centro de los Heroes station, including the removal of all tubing and debris that will allow work on the tunnel to begin soon. The mine-type tunnel will be 12 meters deep in this area and will then join a trench type tunnel running eastwards. This station will also be deep and will be two stories high with a mezzanine and four exits, one at the Lottery building, another near the CDEEE parking area, another on Independencia Avenue, and the last near the National Congress. This will be the largest of the 16 stations on the first line of the Metro system.
The obelisk in the area was demolished for the construction of the station, used to be located. Because of the disruptions caused by the excavations, all traffic is being re-routed.
Yesterday, the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) seized more than 2,250 kilos of illegal drugs, mainly cocaine, although the shipment has not been verified by the Attorney General's Department Laboratory. This seizure is the largest in the history of the Dominican Republic. It arrived on a vessel called Sierra Express, which had sailed from Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, with stopovers in Puerto Rico and the DR. Its final destination was Belgium, according to the Customs Department. The drug shipment was seized at Puerto Multimodal Caucedo in coordination with Customs officers, the port terminal intelligence service, the Venezuelan authorities (which provided information for the operation) as well as the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The drugs were detected by the Customs Intelligence Department with the use of X-ray equipment that was recently donated by United States Customs, when a process of testing and training in the use of the equipment was in effect.
The DNCD used its K-9 unit to detect drugs in a container with 10 palettes of peaches in syrup, five of which had 93 boxes with 24 packs of drugs each and another box with 818 packs. DNCD chief Major General Rafael Ramirez Ferreira stated that they had received information that the operation was in process and immediately went into action, together with the Customs Department to perform an inspection and detect the shipment. The haul will now be taken to the laboratory to determine the exact type and quantity of drugs seized.
Quirino Paulino Castillo, who is on trial in New York City, held the previous record of 1,387 kilos.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will visit the country in mid-October to talk about the electricity situation and to continue discussions about the fifth revision of the Stand-by arrangement with the Dominican Republic. Listin Diario reports that the IMF issued a communique yesterday with information about recent progress by the DR, and which recommends the application of sound policies to consolidate public finances. The information was provided by Jose Faigenbaum, Director of the IMF Department for the Western Hemisphere, while in Singapore, where he was meeting with the Dominican economic team represented by Presidential Technical Minister, Juan Temistocles Montas and Central Bank Governor Hector Valdez Albizu.
See http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2006/pr06204.htm
After a unanimous decision the Dominican Republic has been chosen as the chair for the Central American Council of Secretaries for Public Finance and Treasury. The decision was made during the meeting for the Annual Assembly of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which took place in Singapore. Dominican Finance Minister Vincent Bengoa will head the organization. Guatemala was chosen as executive secretary. The council will include the Costa Rican, Honduran, Guatemalan, Panamanian, El Salvadorian, Nicaraguan and Dominican finance ministries. The meeting was lead by IMF deputy director Agustin Carsterns, and during the summit it was urged that all states involved submit to congress policies that would prevent the double taxation on foreign investments. Currently the Dominican Republic has only one such agreement, which was signed with Canada in 1976.
A report by the Diario Libre highlights that the Dominican bureaucracy is filled with political patronage, and it is an inefficient and incapable mechanism for progress. The report states that in the last 10 years government jobs in government have increased by 60% from 110,347 in 1996 to 168,081 in 2005. The numbers do not take into account the many new autonomous institutions, though. Despite campaign promises, the Fernandez government has done little to cut bureaucracy, increasing government jobs from 160,382 in 2004 at the change of government to 168,081 in 2005.
Journalist Andres Oppenheimer is quoted in the newspaper saying that it is those countries with excess regulations that have the highest levels of corruption and it is in such a regulatory culture that the use of bribes prospers.
Finally the article points out that the Dominican Republic is ranked as one of the worst countries for the hiring and training of its public servants. Of the 18 countries surveyed the DR is ranked 11th with a rating of 19. It is preceded by Paraguay, with a rating of 20, and followed by Ecuador, with a rating of 18. Brazil was atop the list with a ranking of 87, and Panama was at the bottom of the list with a ranking of 2. The report was part of a study done by the Inter American Development Bank titled "Analyzing Bureaucracies: A look from the IDB."
Leaders of the major public transportation unions have announced price reductions on urban and inter-urban transport. Fares have been reduced by between RD$1 and RD$5 on urban routes and up to RD$10 on inter-urban journeys. Though the price decreases are welcome, the traveling public does not consider it sufficient. Unions say that drivers who don't apply the reduction should be penalized, and are calling on the government to reduce fares on the subsidized Office of Metropolitan Transportation Services (OMSA) buses, too. OMSA bus fares, nevertheless, had not been increased. During the month of July the fare for a public taxi, or "concho" ride, was RD$10, but this soared to RD$14 after the price hike, and has now been lowered to about RD$13 on most routes.
Union leader Ramon Perez Figueroa is quoted in Diario Libre, saying that there should be no indifference when it comes to the recent decrease in gas prices over the last few weeks. Figueroa called for the unions to respect passengers and to pass these benefits on to them.
The environmental prosecutor for the northwest, Ramon Aristides Arias described the depredation of Dominican scientific, forest and maritime reserves by illegal Haitian immigrants in the northwest as "alarming" and a "cause for great concern". He spoke of the devastation of fishing areas due to the use of banned fishing methods, destruction of coral reefs, the massacre of birds and collecting of birds' eggs, and takeover by force of Dominican cays by armed Haitian fishermen. In an interview with Listin Diario yesterday, he called for the authorities to take drastic measures to halt this environmental vandalism.
Maritime expert Roberto Llerena says that although there is an armed coastguard ship in Montecristi, it does not have fuel to patrol the area.
The city hall office in the municipality of Los Llanos has reported improprieties in the distribution of birth certificates. Jaime Vasquez, president of the Vicente Celestino Duarte Foundation, reported that the city hall office in the province has been issuing birth certificates to children of illegal Haitian immigrants. He provided a photocopy of one of the documents in question to Diario Libre. According to Dominican law, at least one parent must be a Dominican citizen, with appropriate proof, in order for their child to be a Dominican citizen, whether or not they are born in Dominican territory. Vasquez continued by saying that the illegal activities in the city hall office intensified after the end of sugar cane season, during which many Haitian workers stay on in the country illegally.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is waiting for a response from the office of the United States Representative of Commerce about revisions to laws needed for the implementation of the DR-CAFTA agreement. After these revisions have been accepted by the United States they will then be submitted to the Dominican Congress for approval. For the last two weeks officials from both countries have maintained consistent contact, and the Director of Exterior Commerce, Vilma Arbaje has said that another trip to Washington won't be necessary. Laws on industrial and intellectual property rights were the main clauses up for revision.
Australian Trade Commissioner Paul Martins encouraged Dominicans to look "down under" during a presentation sponsored by the Commonwealth Round Table, the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce and the DR Center for Exports and Investments (CEI-RD). The presentation focused on what Australia is today and where some of the business opportunities may be found. Martins gave an explanation on how his country's mega-diversity has led Australia to develop technologies that they are now exporting to the world. Opportunities exist in food and beverage products, mining (technology, machinery, products), education, franchises, technology and IT/software, products for infrastructure (construction), biotechnology, energy, and tourism (training and investments).
Australia is the leading exporter of cattle and meat products to the world, as well as milk-producing cattle and wool-producing sheep. Less known is the fact that Australia is the world's largest exporter of wines, after France, Italy and Spain. Martins spoke of opportunities for Dominicans to import state-of-the-art water management technologies and alternative energy systems. He also highlighted the fact that some 250,000 foreign students study in Australia, where there are work-study opportunities and the cost of comparable or higher education is lower than in the United States.
While Australia may appear to be too far away for trade, during the conference it was explained that container transport to Australia costs the same as transport to the United States, or approximately US$3,500 per container, and speaking at the event, Dominican importer Liliam Pichardo said that a shipment could get here in 21 days.
During the workshop, Jesus Moreno, president of the Herrera Industries Association, pointed to opportunities for exchanging experiences working with macadamia nuts and organic coffee, as well as national park management (there are 511 national parks in Australia).
The European Union is asking for the same treatment from the DR as was given to the United States in the framework of negotiations for DR-CAFTA, says the Dominican Ambassador to Belgium, Federico Cuello Camilo. Clave Digital reports that according to the ambassador, the county has listened very closely to those arguments and will define its position together with the other Caribbean countries, because they are all negotiating with the EU as a block. The decision on the issue of the most favored nation must be made as block because if the DR accepts the EU's claims, the other Caribbean nations, which have not negotiated an FTA with the US, could be affected by having to concede the same rights to the Europeans. The diplomat considers the EU's argument as political "because they want their investors and exporters to benefit from the same conditions that the other country will enjoy", he explained.
Brazilian experts in the production of ethanol for use as fuel by mixing with gasoline, will be holding a seminar on Thursday and Friday to share their experiences in this new industry. The Brazilian technicians will display their experience for it to be of use in the DR, according to Ambassador Ronaldo Edgar Dunlop, as reported by Listin Diario.
Police Chief General Bernardo Santana Paez is not ruling out the possibility of shutting down the Praia nightclub after a 23-year-old student, Pura Alexandra Nunez Rodriguez, was killed there on Saturday night. The alleged murderer is a security guard and there are five people in custody in relation to the case, according to Diario Libre. The security guard, 32-year-old Ramon Antonio Sanchez, fired several shots in what has been described as a confused incident. A last-minute update on the Listin Diario website indicates that the Attorney General Department ordered Praia to be closed down this morning.
Major leaguer Albert Pujols is positioning himself among baseball's elite superstars. A report by USA Today points out that the 26-year old Dominican superstar is putting up numbers that can only be compared to those of Hall of Famers, and that continued success by Pujols could land him a spot in Cooperstown. Pujols has had an incredible season in 2006, but it has been his numbers over the first six seasons that have been most amazing. At the tender age of 26 Pujols has more homeruns, 246, than home run king Hank Aaron had at the same age (219), more runs scored, 740, than all-time leader Ricky Henderson had at 26 (732), more hits, 1,139, than hit king Pete Rose had at 26 (899), and more runs batted in, 744, than Hank Aaron had at the same stage in his career (743). Pujols has been a source of pride for his team, the Saint Louis Cardinals, and the Dominican community in the United States.
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