President Leonel Fernández’s participation in the upcoming Extraordinary Session on Drug Trafficking of the General Assembly of the United Nations will make for an excellent platform for the Dominican Republic to present to the world efforts carried out to combat drug trafficking in the Caribbean, says Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina. President Fernández is scheduled to speak at 12:30 pm on Monday, 8 June. That same morning, President bill Clinton will address the Assembly at 10:30 am. President Fernández will travel to New York on 7 June. The New York Times has recently published articles that point out that the Dominican Republic is a major center for drug laundering. The Association of Dominican Commercial banks has pointed out the absurdity and of the exaggerated figures cited by the influential newspaper. The Association of Dominican Remittance Companies say that behind the much publicized accusations is a business interest. Major U.S. companies are interested in putting Dominican remittance companies out of the market in order to take over the US$1,300 million business of transferring the money of Dominicans from New York City to the Dominican Republic. Dominican residents in New York maintain strong ties with home and regularly send back their savings.
