The Center for Export and Investment of the Dominican Republic (CEI-RD) and the National Competitiveness Council hosted Irish international development consultant David J. Lovegrove for several days of presentations to Dominican businessmen and government officers. Lovegrove was a key player in the leap that Ireland took from being what The Economist magazine described as the poorest country in Europe in the 80s to becoming the third largest per capita exporting nation after Belgium and Singapore.
Lovegrove worked for 24 years in different capacities with the Irish Agency for Development of Enterprise Policy and Strategy Development and served as secretary to the National Competitiveness Council.
Eddy Martinez, ofCEI-RD chose the Irish case as benchmark for spurring development in the DR. In a conference at the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (Funglode), Lovegrove spoke about Ireland’s experience. He commented that, like the DR, Ireland was a small and poor country that depended on foreign investment. In his opinion, the DR has the potential to repeat the Irish miracle. To achieve this growth, nevertheless, firm decisions need to be taken, there need to be clear objectives and the knowledge that countries grow little by little. He explained that there are difficult decisions to be made. In the case of Ireland, he explained that the government decided not to support traditional industries that wanted the government to maintain subsidies. On the contrary, he explained that the government opted to concentrate resources only in sectors that had growth potential. “We kept only the winners,” he said, admitting this was a difficult decision.
He said it is essential that a country that wants to make an economic leap identify its strengths and weaknesses to choose the activities it wants to focus on to compete and attract investment. “What is important is to not create more red tape and avoid politicizing of the economy,” he said, as reported in Hoy newspaper. He insisted on the important role of the business sector in the systematic revision of its competitive position.
He said this requires social agreements, with the participation of employers, workers and the government. He said in Ireland, the workers lowered their wage aspirations, and the government accepted to lower taxes.
This opened the possibility for the government to destine 20% of its budget to attract foreign investment.
Lovegrove emphasized that no country case can be replicated, but he stressed that there are important experiences that can be successfully adapted.
He spoke of how the Irish government strengthened the regulatory role of trade and public finances to achieve macroeconomic stability. There is no perfect solution, he told his audience, while highlighting that one has to implement, learn from errors and move on.