Minister Victor (Ito) Bisonó spoke of the challenges for countries to manage their natural resources correctly during the 12th Annual Conference of Mines Ministries of the Americas (CAMMA). The conference is taking place in Santo Domingo from 18 to 19 October 2022 and gathers 23 governments from the Americas, including the Caribbean for the ministerial-level mining policy forum.
Bisonó remarked that Latin America has large and important natural resources, especially compared to other regions of the world, and faces challenges for inclusive and sustainable development in changing economic, social and environmental contexts.
“Minerals, as well as soils, forests, rivers, among other natural assets, represent an important base for the growth of Latin American and Caribbean countries, since they generate ecosystem services with wide-ranging benefits,” said Bisonó.
Participating in the opening of the Conference of Mining Ministries of the Americas (Camma), Bisonó said that human activities and mining have a significant impact on the environment. He said that the mission of government decision-makers is essentially to find sustainable solutions to balance environmental issues and the benefits of mining.
“So, it is a matter, in simple terms, of more than reasonably leveling what is in the ground and what nature has in store for us underneath the earth. There, in the ground, more than minerals and metals, many of them of great commercial value, lie skilled job opportunities,” he said. He said that mining can translate into more than decent wages for employees and a circular, robust supply economy in the broader sense.
He spoke of the technical vocational training that mining companies bring and how a vigorous industry contributes to prosperity and development.
Bisonó said Central Bank of the Dominican Republic data indicates that in 2020, the mining sector contributed to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) RD$89.23 billion, equivalent to 2%.
“The challenge of making economic prosperity converge with environmental sustainability and with the canons of defense of nature and our environment, sometimes is steep, but it is an obligatory task,” Bisonó stressed.
Speaking during the same conference, Minister of Energy & Mines Antonio Almonte said that mining companies paid US$532 million in taxes in 2021.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines contracted a major public relations campaign to improve the public perception of the mining industry in the country.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
DR1 News
19 October 2022