The DR-CAFTA agreement does not prohibit the government from assisting small and medium sized businesses. This means that in the future, the Dominican Republic can protect, reserve, foster or subsidize small businesses in order for them to remain competitive with similar entities from the Central American region. The news came out during the Workshop on the Competitiveness of the National Labor Force that was sponsored by INFOTEP. According to the information available, the Dominican state also reserved the right to make preferential purchases of products and services provided by small and micro-businesses. Hugo Rivera Santana explained that in the professional services sector the DR has managed to reserve the right to keep the restrictions currently in place in Dominican law that govern the performance of professional services. As reported in Hoy, this means that notary, accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services will be available to be performed by foreign nationals associated with Dominican professionals in the same field. The law also obliges foreign engineers, architects and surveyors to form alliances with Dominican partners in order to work here. The legal profession is further controlled, since lawyers, in order to practice must have Dominican nationality and belong to the Dominican Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados). Foreigners also have to belong to CODIA, the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors, in order to practice.