President Leonel Fernández headed a seminar to analyze the behavior of the Dominican economy during the first two years of his administration. Also attending were: Vice President Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal A delegation from the Interamerican Development Bank including Enrique Iglesias, president; Ricardo Haussman, principal economist; Miguel Martínez, regional manager; Carlos Solchaga, Moises Pineda, Juan Gomes and Alberto Carasquillo. A delegation from the U.S. Agency for International Development including Arnold Harberger, Efrian Laureano. A delegation from the World Bank including Edgardo Favarro and John Panzer. And Dominican economists: Andres Dahuajre, Jaime Escuder, , Carlos Despradel, Eduardo García Michel, Manuel Cocco and Isidoro Santana. For the economic team of the government: Minister of Finance Daniel Toribio; Minister of Industry and Commerce Luis Manuel Bonetti; Secretary of the Presidency Danilo Medina; Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temístocles Montás, and Administrative Secretary of the Presidency Simón Lizardo. Also the Governor of the Central Bank Hector Valdez Albizu; administrator of the Banco de Reservas, Roberto Saladín; director of Information, Analysis and Strategy of the Presidency Carlos Dore Cabral; Minister of Interior and Police Norge Botello; director of Corde Eduardo Selman; Melanio Paredes, Francisco Javier García, Alejandrina Germán, among others. During the event, Enrique Iglesias, president of the IDB, praised the outstanding economic growth of the DR, which reported the highest growth rate in Latin America in 1997. But he said the challenge is now not only to maintain economic growth but to better distribute among more Dominicans the wealth, seeking to achieve social justice. He insisted that the DR should sign a grand social pact through democratic dialogue identifying the central points of a national action plan that would include initiatives that would permit the growth to be maintained so that the country be in condition to resolve its important social issues. Ricardo Hausmann, principal economist of the IDB, said that these are the best of times for the DR, times when the nation can push for social policies that generate new jobs and an improvement of the general standard of living.
