Former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Sonia Guzman de Hernandez has told reporters that the DR did not avail itself of funds that were available to prepare itself for the DR-CAFTA treaty, and the Central American republics were “smarter than we were.” She also warned that if the government does not accelerate the process, some investments would go elsewhere, where there is more security. As reported in Listin Diario, the former minister said that it doesn’t look like the Dominican Republic will be ready to enter the DR-CAFTA agreement in July. She blames the situation on governmental slowness, and pointed out that the President issued a decree that created a special commission to deal with all of the aspects relating to the DR’s entry into the agreement, but the seven ministers of state involved in the commission have not been able to get together as yet.
A press report says that El Salvador expects to be implementing the treaty by March, getting a head start on the Dominican Republic.