The President of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), Celso Marranzini, publicly advised the Dominican government to refuse to sign any market access protocol with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) if the latter continues to insist on a long list ("negative list") of products exempt from the August 1998 Treaty’s trade liberalization measures. He said even though CARICOM reportedly has pared its proposed list from some 900 products to 200, that is still far too high. In an interview with the news daily El Siglo, he said that CONEP would prefer to see a negative list of 2-3 products. He commented that in a way he was glad that CARICOM had presented such lists, because it proved the DR is readier to accept opening its markets than its neighbors are. Also interviewed was industrialist Antonio Esp?n, who agreed that the CARICOM draft list is still far too big. "200 products is an extraordinary quantity. That would make impossible, truly, adequate competition between our countries," he opined. He agreed with Marranzini that the list should be cut to 2-3 products.
