The leading echelons of the national business structure met with the officials of the Dominican Port Authority and voiced their rejection of proposed increases in the cost of loading and unloading merchandise on Dominican docks. The meeting did produce an agreement to have a special commission look into the issues involved. Jose Elias Valdez and Elena Viyella de Paliza spoke for the two parties at the meeting. Viyella de Paliza told reporters from Hoy that they had formed a commission of Port Authority members and representatives from CONEP, the largest local business lobby group. While Valdez rejected charges that the increases would be around 300% and that the Port Authority had more than 6,000 people on its payrolls, he also called for a consensus on the issues. On her part, Elena Viyella argued that the business community needed to become more competitive and in order to do this it had to keep a lid on costs. She argued that more competitive businesses would mean more cargo passing through the Dominican ports. The additional volume would translate into more taxes for the government.