http://dr1.com/trade en-us N/A robert@dr1.com Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:30:52 EST 20 http://dr1.com/trade/articles/916/1/Exports-to-EU-increase/Page1.html
21 November 2008 - DR1 Daily News ]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:31:58 EST http://dr1.com/trade/articles/916/1/Exports-to-EU-increase/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/746/1/Cacao-experiencing-boom/Page1.html
29 July 2008 - DR1 Daily News
]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:21:10 EDT http://dr1.com/trade/articles/746/1/Cacao-experiencing-boom/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/647/1/The-EU-has-millions-for-bananas/Page1.html
30 April 2008 - DR1 Daily News  ]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:29:50 EDT http://dr1.com/trade/articles/647/1/The-EU-has-millions-for-bananas/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/576/1/Dominican-commerce-with-EU-experiences-largest-growth/Page1.html
According to statistics provided by LBC total trade between the DR and the EU was EU1.82 billion in 2007, totaling an increase of 17.5% or 152 million. No other CAFTA country grew more, in terms of trade, in real terms than the DR.

Percentage wise the DR was the CAFTA country with the second largest growth, behind Nicaragua. The DR also had the third largest growth among Latin American nations in terms of trade importance with the EU. In total terms, among CAFTA countries, Costa Rica is still the EU’s number one trade partner, though the DR is second.

As a trade block CAFTA trade with the EU 0.8% to an equivalent of EU8.58 billion which was worse than the growth of trade between the EU and MERCOSUR and the Andean Community.

As a whole commerce between the EU and Latin American grew 11.5%, to a total of EU160 billion, which recorded an all time high. Exports from the region towards the EU grew 10.5% or a total of EU88.7 billion while exports from the EU towards the region increased by 12.8% or EU71.4 billion. Additionally, commerce between the EU and Latin America is growing at double the rate as commerce between Latin America and the US.  

08 April 2008 - Latin Business Chronicle
]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:19:24 EDT http://dr1.com/trade/articles/576/1/Dominican-commerce-with-EU-experiences-largest-growth/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/432/1/Morales-on-EPA/Page1.html The agreement will permit Dominican products such as bananas and tobacco to enter the EU without tariffs and quotas. Sugar, however, will be limited to 30,000 tons in 2008 and 2009. The Caribbean nations will begin to apply the agreement's protocols on 15 April. The accord also provides for "an alternate migration plan" whereby European companies can hire professional, technical or qualified personnel for up to six months of work. On the financial level, according to Morales, the agreement provides for financial guarantees for investments coming from the EU as long as Dominican investments receive the same treatment in the EU countries. Morales also revealed that the EU would be assisting the Dominican Republic with programs for competitiveness (EUR80/US$120 million) and development (US$169 million) over the 2008-2013 period.
Morales Troncoso stressed that this is the first agreement to completely liberalize trade. It enables Caribbean countries to exclude certain products, it allows for the use of inputs from any country for apparel manufacture, footwear or pharmaceuticals for export to Europe. It is also the first to prohibit and repress corruption and violation of labor and environmental laws by investors. Furthermore, it is the first to include rules on travel and is the first to put into practice the UNESCO convention for the promotion and protection of cultural diversity, through a cultural cooperation protocol. The agreement is also the first to require that Caribbean countries grant themselves what they have granted to Europe, making true Caribbean integration a reality. Morales pointed out that the agreement integrates Haiti in a free trade agreement with the Dominican Republic.
The agreement is also the first to provide for safeguards lasting up to eight years for product trade protection. It is also the first time that a group of developed countries liberalizes the movement of people, opening their markets, without quotas to doctors, nurses, lawyers, consultants and other trade providers from the Caribbean.
Signatory countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and the Dominican Republic. Participating parties for the European Union are Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Australia, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, the UK, Bulgaria and Romania.
http://dr1.com/trade/articles/426/1/Full-Text-of-the-EPA-Agreement/Page1.html

19 December 2007 - DR1 Daily News ]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:05:11 EST http://dr1.com/trade/articles/432/1/Morales-on-EPA/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/431/1/EPA-negotiations-end/Page1.html As of January 2008 all exports in goods and services originating from within the Cariforum countries (CARICOM plus DR) will receive duty-free and quota-free access in Europe. Eighty percent of the goods produced in Europe will receive duty free access to the Caribbean markets within the next 15 years.
Hugo Ramirez Risk, former Director of Trade Negotiations for the DR, who witnessed the round that took place in Bridgetown, from Wednesday to Sunday last week, indicates that non-discriminatory access with respect to the region's culture industries, including the performing arts and writers, one of the major sticking points in the negotiations on services, was finally overcome late the last night of the round with a commitment offered by 25 of the EU's 27 member states.
"What makes this development all the more significant is the fact that the Caribbean has emerged as the first of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to finalize an EPA arrangement with the European Union," he reports.
"The reaffirmed mandate by CARIFORUM's negotiators was to conclude the most beneficial and complete accord possible in preference to securing a market access arrangement by the 31 December 2007 deadline, and so the DR did. By 2010, all vital exports will be eligible for duty-free and quota-free access to Europe's market," he explained.
With respect to Caribbean sugar exports, Ramirez Risk explains that the agreement is that Caricom sugar producers will gain an additional 30,000 tons on top of current allocations while the DR is to benefit from a separate 30,000 tons, but only until 9 September 2009.
The EPA arrangements concluded in Barbados are to be submitted to the EU Council on Thursday this week, for the insertion of the 15 Cariforum countries in the European Commission's regulations to permit unhindered access to Europe's market from January 1st 2008.

17 December 2007 - DR1 Daily News ]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:04:22 EST http://dr1.com/trade/articles/431/1/EPA-negotiations-end/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/430/1/EPA-negotiations-end/Page1.html As of January 2008 all exports in goods and services originating from within the Cariforum countries (CARICOM plus DR) will receive duty-free and quota-free access in Europe. Eighty percent of the goods produced in Europe will receive duty free access to the Caribbean markets within the next 15 years.
Hugo Ramirez Risk, former Director of Trade Negotiations for the DR, who witnessed the round that took place in Bridgetown, from Wednesday to Sunday last week, indicates that non-discriminatory access with respect to the region's culture industries, including the performing arts and writers, one of the major sticking points in the negotiations on services, was finally overcome late the last night of the round with a commitment offered by 25 of the EU's 27 member states.
"What makes this development all the more significant is the fact that the Caribbean has emerged as the first of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to finalize an EPA arrangement with the European Union," he reports.
"The reaffirmed mandate by CARIFORUM's negotiators was to conclude the most beneficial and complete accord possible in preference to securing a market access arrangement by the 31 December 2007 deadline, and so the DR did. By 2010, all vital exports will be eligible for duty-free and quota-free access to Europe's market," he explained.
With respect to Caribbean sugar exports, Ramirez Risk explains that the agreement is that Caricom sugar producers will gain an additional 30,000 tons on top of current allocations while the DR is to benefit from a separate 30,000 tons, but only until 9 September 2009.
The EPA arrangements concluded in Barbados are to be submitted to the EU Council on Thursday this week, for the insertion of the 15 Cariforum countries in the European Commission's regulations to permit unhindered access to Europe's market from January 1st 2008.

17 December 2007 - DR1 Daily News 
]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:02:56 EST http://dr1.com/trade/articles/430/1/EPA-negotiations-end/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/429/1/EPA039s-need-work/Page1.html Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso left for Jamaica yesterday to participate in a special Cariforum Countries Heads of State and Government meeting with the hopes of pounding out the details of the EPA. Among the details that need working out are regional preference, similar treatment by the DR towards the EU as is done under the DR-CAFTA and the amount of products that will be excluded, among others.

04 October 2007 - DR1 Daily News  ]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:01:31 EST http://dr1.com/trade/articles/429/1/EPA039s-need-work/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/258/1/Rum-and-tobacco-could-lose-market/Page1.html
2 August 2007 - DR1 Daily News]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:13:43 EDT http://dr1.com/trade/articles/258/1/Rum-and-tobacco-could-lose-market/Page1.html http://dr1.com/trade/articles/148/1/EPA-with-EU-moving-forward/Page1.html
10 July 2007 - DR1 Daily News ]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:12:55 EDT http://dr1.com/trade/articles/148/1/EPA-with-EU-moving-forward/Page1.html