Business leaders from the Dominican Republic are traveling to Guatemala to discuss the ways and means of getting the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) underway. The object of the meetings is to define just how things will be done to launch the FTA in January of 2006. In effect, the Central American countries that have approved the FTA with the United States are free to begin operations under its aegis in January, but the Dominican Republic is being held up because of the 13% exchange commission tax on dollars used to purchase goods and services abroad. This tax is considered to be contrary to the DR-CAFTA guidelines. This week’s series of meetings in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are designed to set a date for the start up of DR-CAFTA. In today’s meeting in Guatemala, the attendees will hear a talk, “A common destiny”, designed to show how small, well designed steps can lead to an increase in confidence in the ability of the DR-CAFTA nations to compete within the agreement.