President Leonel Fernández is in San Juan, Puerto Rico since Sunday, 30 August. He is participating in the conference, "One American Market: The South Looks South," which brings together governors of southern U.S. states and heads of state of Central America and the Dominican Republic. Southern U.S. states and the beneficiaries of the Caribbean Basin Initiative have an interdependent relationship. Free zones that operate in the Caribbean Basin import textiles from southern U.S. states to manufacture apparel for export to the US. These states lose business when U.S. companies import apparel from Asia where Asian fabrics are used. Likewise, DR seeks to garner the support of the southern states to lobby in the US Congress for parity or that parity conditions with those awarded to Mexico under NAFTA be granted by the administration. President Fernández was received in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 2:30 pm by the Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Roselló. He then participated in a 7 pm reception for visiting chiefs of states and special guests. Today, the President was scheduled to participate in the 8 am opening session of the meeting, and then at 10 am in a meeting of chiefs of state with the governors of southern US states. At 1 pm he is scheduled to sign the Declaration of Puerto Rico, with conclusions of the event. Also on his agenda is a private meeting with Central American statesmen regarding the Central American Free Trade Agreement signed in the DR in April. This is the first time that President Fernández visits Puerto Rico after becoming President on 16 August 1996. He is expected to partake in several activities with the Dominican community in Puerto Rico. Governor Roselló of Puerto Rico hopes to convert Puerto Rico into a "bilingual bridge", or a "geographically and logistically ideal site for promoting and accelerating the economic integration of the Western Hemisphere." To this end, he invited senior officers from the US Department of Commerce, authorities on international relations, and the Presidents of Costa Rica, the DR, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and the Prime Minister of Belize.
