The PRD has instructed its lawmakers to ratify the DR-CAFTA agreement at today’s session in the Senate. According to a report in El Caribe, PRD Secretary General Orlando Jorge Mera explained that the party had taken the decision at a meeting last Wednesday, 24 August 2005, in coordination with Senate president Andres Bautista, and the party spokesman Anibal Garcia Duverge. Jorge Mera said the PRD understands that this treaty is an important tool for the country’s development and competitiveness. Senate president Andres Bautista stated that the senators would approve the FTA and will later dedicate full time to the debate and evaluation of the proposals to be submitted by the Executive Branch on tax reform and compensatory measures for the national productive sectors and social investment. According to Listin Diario, the Dominican Republic Association of Industries (AIRD) has asked the senators to make the ratification of DR-CAFTA conditional on measures to guarantee the national productive sector’s competitiveness. The senators issued a resolution on this subject on 9 May 2005. The Senate Commission on Industry, Commerce and Free Zones, led by Alejandro Santos, recommended ratification to the Senate in their favorable report about the FTA. The Dominican Republic signed the treaty on 5 August 2004 during Hipolito Mejia’s administration. It has already been ratified by the US, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Ratification is still pending in the DR, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.