According to Minister of Industry and Commerce Jose del Castillo Savinon, the trade agreements that the country has signed with other nations have yielded positive results. This is so because foreign trade has expanded and created a culture of competitiveness, even though it was through necessity. Jose del Castillo Savinon said that the most important aspect in the case of the Dominican Republic, Central America and United States Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), as in the case of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, was the consolidation of the tariff privileges that these countries have unilaterally granted the Dominican Republic.
The minister pointed out that in the case of the United States and DR-CAFTA this was done through the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the General Preferences System. Del Castillo said that the country has a negative balance in the agreement with Central America and the United States,” but nevertheless we have seen our exports growing both from the free zones, which have had a resurgence lately, as well as in the traditional exports,”