http://dr1.com/trade en-us N/A robert@dr1.com Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:23:03 EST 20 http://dr1.com/trade/articles/45/1/South-America-Trade-Overview/Page1.html
Steps towards strengthened relations began when on 8 December 2005, the Dominican Republic and MERCOSUR trading bloc (composed of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) met in Montevideo, Uruguay on the occasion of the XXIX meeting of the MERCOSUR Common Market Council and Summit of Heads of State. At this meeting, the Parties signed a Joint Statement with the objective to continue deepening the political and economic dialogue between MERCOSUR and the Dominican Republic.

The DR is one of four countries (the others are Haiti, St. Kitts-Nevis and El Salvador) participating in the U.S.-Brazil Biofuels Partnership outreach program. Under the partnership, the world's two largest ethanol producers are committed to helping less-developed countries in the Western Hemisphere to promote production of biofuels from local crops, and reduce their dependency on fuel oils. The partnership also intends to advance the research in and development of more efficient biofuel technologies and to work toward a greater convergence of biofuel standards around the world. For starters, the partnership is funding feasibility studies to determine which types of sugarcane and other plants, such as castor bean and jatropha shrubs, are best suited to local conditions and examine other factors such as soil quality, environmental impact and the potential for rural development. The partnership was based on findings in a report, "A Blueprint for Green Energy in the Americas" prepared for the Inter-American Development Bank.

 
Also strengthening Dominican/Brazilian relations is the DR’s announcement to purchase 8 Super Tucano fighter planes from Brazil. The planes are expected to patrol the skies above the DR in the fight against drug trafficking. The eight Super Tucano airplanes that the government bought from Brazil at US$9.5 million each.

Fernandez has also been hard at work strengthening his relationship with Venezuela and its President, Hugo Chavez. Fernandez has signed on to the PetroCaribe agreement and has said that PetroCaribe's offer to the DR was generous, and said that if the price of a barrel of oil reached US$100 the DR would pay 50% as part of the PetroCaribe agreement and the remaining 50% would be deferred for 25 years. Fernandez also explained that the agreement would allow the DR to receive a total of 50,000 barrels of crude per day. Fernandez handling of relations with his South American counterparts was visible during the XX Rio Group Summit Conference when Fernandez was able to help make peace between Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia.

Update 26 March 2006
]]> no@spam.com (Lu Olivero) Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:06:49 EDT http://dr1.com/trade/articles/45/1/South-America-Trade-Overview/Page1.html