President Hipolito Mejia spoke at the trade seminar between the Dominican Republic and Canada yesterday, saying that the Dominican Republic was ready to open free-trade talks with Canada. Mejia emphasized the strategic location of his country, as well as the integrity and modernity of its regulatory system, which guarantees international investors and the companies set up in the Dominican Republic the same rights and privileges enjoyed by Dominicans. As the keynote speaker at the opening of the seminar, titled ?Canada and the Dominican Republic: Closer than ever?, President Mejia discussed the foreign investment law which permits full repatriation of investment capital, dividends and profits in freely convertible currencies. Finally, the President pointed out that since 1940, Canada and the Dominican Republic have had a solid commercial relationship and that Canadian investment in the DR has reached US$1.4 billion dollars over the past decade.
