During the summit of leaders of Central America (including Belize and Panama), the DR and U.S. held yesterday in Antigua, Guatemala, President Leonel Fern?ndez called on U.S. President Bill Clinton to find ways to stimulate more U.S. investment flows to the region. "We don’t have another option," he declared. "If we don’t do it, thousands of Central Americans, just like thousands of Dominicans affected by the poverty or politics will continue putting their lives in danger, traveling to the North, crossing the waters of the Caribbean Sea in search of a better situation in the United States." He indicated to Clinton his interest in concluding soon a bilateral agreement on protection of intellectual property (IP) and a bilateral investment treaty (BIT). Noting that Hurricanes Georges and Mitch had destroyed or hurt much of the productive sectors in Central America and the DR, he asserted that "now more than ever foreign investment is the basic ingredient for transforming and reconstructing our economies."
