Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire encouraged the Dominican private sector to make the most of British government support, especially in the areas of agricultural modernization and best practices, education and creative industries when speaking at the Presidential Palace today, Tuesday 11 June.
Swire met with President Danilo Medina at the Presidential Palace earlier in the morning. He was accompanied by Steven Fisher, UK Ambassador in the Dominican Republic, and Dominican Ambassador in London Federico Cuello. He visited the DR on the occasion of the formal opening of the Indomina Pinewood Studios in Juan Dolio.
Swire stated that there are synergies to be created given that the UK is the world’s sixth largest economy and the DR is largest and most dynamic economy in Central America and Caribbean region. Swire stressed that the UK has leading agriculture technology that could help the DR government in the drive to transform the rural economy.
“We have some of the world’s best universities, some of which would certainly like to partner with Dominican institutions,” he said. During the presentation he announced the forthcoming investment of a British school that would train English language teachers.
He also mentioned that in the creative sector there is a wealth of experience to help build a global film making industry on the back of the new Pinewood Indomina Studios.
Swire’s visit comes a week before the celebration of Dominican Week in London. The event is organized by the Dominican Embassy in London to promote trade and investment opportunities between both countries.
During the press conference, Jean Alain Rodriguez, director of the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD) said that UK companies have invested around US$1 billion in the DR. He said there is an interest within the British government for the UK to become the first or second investor in the DR. According to Swire, “the UK is currently the sixth largest investor in DR and although trade and investment figures are already good, they could be much much better. I have come partly to see how our two governments can work better to promote commercial engagement, more trade and investment in both directions.”
Federico Cuello, Dominican ambassador in the UK, said talks focused on increasing UK investment in the DR and exports. He stated that the UK is already the main market for Dominican produce in the European Union. Cuello said the DR is the No. 1 exporter of organic bananas and fair trade bananas, organic cacao and fair trade cacao, and is no. 3 in export of Chinese vegetables that are mainly produced in La Vega province. He said the market for fresh vegetables in the UK is enormous and the DR has only tapped 2%.
He said that Swire’s visit comes as part of a new initiative whereby Dominican embassies are proactively promoting exports to benefit from the privileged relationship the country has with the European Union.