President Leonel Fernandez swore in yesterday the members of the advisory boards in New York and New Jersey. The plan is that these boards may serve as permanent liaison between the Dominican government and Dominican communities abroad, focusing on multiple aras such as education, health, cience and technology, investment, commerce, citizen participation, among others.
Members of the board of New York are Ramona Hernandez, Monica Santana, Liliam Perez, German de Leon, Nelson Valdez, Luis Alvarez. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has appointed Dominican Guillermo Linares as liaison between the council and the city of New York. Architect Eduardo Selman was appointed to be the Dominican government liaison with the Dominican community in New York.
The advisory board seeks to capitalize the accumulated work and educational experience of the Dominican community in New York to integrate it to the new vision for the development of the Dominican Republic. It seeks to open new channels for reciprocity, so that the Dominican government can also undertake actions that benefit the Dominican community abroad, by identifying needs of the community.
President Fernandez recently said in Santo Domingo when announcing the advisory board as an instrument to integrate and assist that the idea behind it all is that Dominicans are one people, only divided by geographic distance. But these same Dominicans continue eating rice, beans and meat with avocado.