The Dominican Consulate in Miami, Florida sponsored business meetings to foster increased trade between the Dominican Republic and Florida companies and ports of entry. The Consulate officials and promoters spoke of how the DR offers more than vacations, and presented options for investing in real estate, energy, transportation and trade free zones.
“The economic growth of our country is not a temporary situation; it has been sustained for 30 years. We have one of the most robust democratic systems in the region,” said Geanilda Vásquez, consul general of the Dominican Republic in Miami.
The Dominican Republic and Miami-Dade Economics and Investment Opportunities Forum was held on 3 September at the Dominican consulate in Brickell, and attracted county leaders and representatives of the Dominican community. The mission: to exchange ideas on how to bring the Dominican Republic and the United States, its main trading partner, closer together.
The Dominican Republic is Florida’s fifth-largest trading partner globally and Miami-Dade’s third, a point highlighted at the forum, coordinated by the Dominican International Business and Tourism Chamber.
Vásquez said the DR is the fastest-growing country in Latin America, with an inflation rate of 3.3%, which the country has managed to control despite challenges.
In 2024, the DR received 11.2 million visitors, 40% of whom entered the country via Miami, which is also the main entry port for Dominican products into the US market. This year, the consul general said the country hopes to hit 12 million tourists.
The forum also focused on the importance of Miami as Latin America’s financial capital and the contribution of Dominicans to its development in various professions and as business owners.
Pedro J. Díaz Ballester, president of the Dominican International Business and Tourism Chamber, said Dominican expats living in Florida, seek to buy property in Florida and the Dominican Republic.
Eyvana Bengochea, senior advisor in the office of Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, presented Pedro J. Díaz Ballester, president of the Dominican International Chamber of Business and Tourism, with a special congressional recognition certificate for his 45 years of promoting trade, business, tourism, investment, and development relations between the United States and the Dominican Republic.
More Dominicans in South Florida send remittances to their country, but primarily invest in infrastructure, always dreaming of growing in the United States and then returning to the Dominican Republic, consulate officials said.
The forum featured panelists including Manny Cid, senior advisor for economic opportunities for Miami-Dade County; Nidia Martínez Quezada, vice president of business development for the Miami Beacon Council; and Martín Medina Gómez, vice president of the Dominican International Business and Tourism Chamber.
Miami-Dade officials spoke about the opportunities available to entrepreneurs through the STRIVE 305 program.
“We offer loans at very low interest,” said Cid, inviting Dominican entrepreneurs with a business idea to share them in the program, which can also help them from “A to Z” to establish a business in Miami.
Every week, 6,000 containers depart from Miami-Dade to the Dominican Republic, and four passenger and seven cargo airlines serve the Dominican Republic from Miami International Airport.
Consul Vásquez, meanwhile, sought the support of the city of Miami and the county to develop Allapattah, known as Little Santo Domingo.
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AOL
15 September 2025