Agriculture Minister Osmar Benitez told Diario Libre that President Danilo Medina has already authorized that the country negotiate amendments to the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement. The agreement entered into force in March 2007 for the Dominican Republic. Benitez said the initial talks have already been held with the US authorities. He says the Dominican side will press to keep expiring tariffs on some farm products, arguing that the US had committed to reduce subsidies and has not done so.
On the other hand, an editorial in Diario Libre on Tuesday, 18 December 2018, says that the talks with the US are premature. Adriano Miguel Tejada writes that would not be the best moment to amend the DR-CAFTA agreement without previously consulting with Central American partners in the treaty.
Meanwhile, seven months after his appointment as agriculture minister, Benítez, best known as the private sector agriculture czar, now turned the government’s top ranking agriculture officer, says he is creating new mechanisms to protect and improve national production. Formerly, Benítez was executive president of the Agro-Industry Board (JAD) that groups the leading agri-business and farm companies in the Dominican Republic.
In the interview with Diario Libre, Benítez said that the country is also negotiating ways to expand Dominican exports to China. He said one alternative is transshipment in Panama to shorten the travel time from 25 days to 15 days for the goods to Asia. He says cacao, tobacco, cigars, cassava and its starch, pineapples, avocados and mangos could have a future in Asia. In total, he hopes to find markets for 30 Dominican farm products in Asia. He said the challenges are the logistics and the distance. Benitez says the goal is to double farm exports in the next five years. He said farm exports are now US$2 billion.
Moreover, he says his department is emphasizing security at our ports to avoid the entry of pests and diseases that could affect local produce. Benitez favors regulating imports, but not prohibiting them.
Benitez says he has dedicated much of his time to organizing the Ministry of Agriculture, putting everyone within the institution to work in a coordinated way and cutting red tape. He said wage adjustments have been made to take in account educational background but also years in service. He said regional directors have been assigned a revolving fund of RD$1 million per province for immediate needs. To spur the development of the farming sector, the government has assigned heavy equipment to the Ministry for the construction of rural roads without having to depend on the Ministry of Public Works.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
18 December 2018
