President Leonel Fernández arrived at Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Monday, 26 January, after an intense day of activities. Earlier in the day, in Santo Domingo, President Fernández had participated in the inaugural ceremony of the 27 de Febrero Avenue bus service route and in activities commemorative of the anniversary of Juan Pablo Duarte, founder of the country. President Fernández flew to Honduras to participate in the inaugural of the Honduran President Carlos Roberto Flores. This is the fifth time the President travels to a Central American nation since his own inauguration in August 1996. He traveled in a private jet accompanied by Minister of Foreign Relations Eduardo Latorre, Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina, journalist Miguel Guerrero, banker Ramón Báez Figueroa and businessman Abraham Selman. The Dominican Republic has advanced negotiations with Central America for the signing of a free trade agreement this spring. In Honduras, the President said that the Dominican Republic would soon be accepted as a member of the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica (BCIE). The bank has funding of US$100 million from the Interamerican Development Bank and US$460 million from the Acuerdo de San José, a petroleum export agreement. The D.R. will also be admitted to the Sistema de Integración Centroamericana (SICA), the organization that regulates and channels economic cooperation within the region. It was also announced that Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos (TACA), a Central American airline that has a strategic alliance with American Airlines, will offer direct flights to Santo Domingo from Central America as of March. In addition, press reports indicated that the Dominican firm, Barceló Industrial, would install a distillery in San Pedro Sula.
