President Leonel Fernández met on Friday with key executives of several companies in Silicon Valley, to promote the Santo Domingo cyberpark. Construction of the park will begin later this month next door to the Las Americas International Airport. Taiwan has committed to invest US$15 million in the cyberpark that also includes an institute for high tech learning. El Siglo newspaper reported that President Fernández visited the Hewlett Packard plant in Silicon Valley, where he was hosted by Lew Platt, chief executive officer of the company. Platt promised to send down a team to study the possibility of being part of the park. The company will look into the possibility of setting up a call center for support service to its clients, many of which are Spanish-speaking. Other visits were made to Multiplexer Corporation and AT&T Laboratories. At AT&T Labs, Albert Chu, vice president for market development said that the DR has the conditions to enter the high tech world setting up service companies utilizing internet, telephone or new cable technology. Chu concurred with Platt of Hewlett Packard, that since the US is the principal commercial partner with Latin America for many companies there are many advantages to setting up service support in a country where Spanish is spoken.
