Santo Domingo will be hosting the third meeting of the DR-CAFTA Trade Commission on 26 March 2015. The Commission’s last meeting was held in Miami on 23 January 2012. Deputy ministers and directors of trade from the DR-CAFTA countries, which include the DR, Central America and the United States, will be attending.
The meeting is taking place at a time when the US government has banned seven vegetable and fruit exports to the United States and Puerto Rico, causing major losses for local exporters. The ban is attributed to Medfly that was detected in a shipment in transit at the Punta Cana International Airport.
Assistant USTR for the Western Hemisphere John Melle will be representing the United States. At the USTR, Melle is responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing the United States’ trade policy for the region. This includes oversight of trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, Chile, Central America and the Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia and Panama, as well as bilateral trade issues with Brazil, Argentina and the remainder of South America and the Caribbean. He is also responsible for the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), the US trade preference program with Caribbean countries.