United States Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will be coming to the Dominican Republic next Wednesday to discuss the proposed bilateral Free Trade Agreement, according to a Mario Mendez piece in today’s Hoy newspaper. Marking his first visit to the DR, Zoellick will meet with representatives of both the public and private sectors. Next weekend, a US team of negotiators will arrive for a week of talks with their Dominican counterparts. The official’s planned trip is viewed as a signal of the importance of these negotiations. It is expected that after three rounds of discussions that will end in March, the necessary legislation will be ready for the US Congress.
Meanwhile, the Listin Diario reports today that the president of the Association of Industries in the Dominican Republic, Lisandro Macarrulla, in a letter to Industry & Commerce Minister Sonia Guzman, asked Dominican negotiators to postpone the start of the free trade agreement with the United States until 2007. He said that Dominican business cannot compete under present conditions. He mentioned bank interest rates of 30-40%, excessively high electricity rates, taxes of 5% on exports, 2% on imports and an exchange commission of 10%, among other inequalities that render Dominican products insufficiently able to compete.