Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, President Leonel Fernandez outlined a plan aimed at exchanging the poor nations’ foreign debt of for development programs to allow them to meet the Millennium Objectives set out by the UN. Fernandez said that the Dominican Republic required between US$29 billion to US$30 billion over the next ten years to reach the objectives, something he considered very unlikely in a nation with a GDP of just US$21 billion. Fernandez was clear in stating that his nation could not reach the objectives without outside assistance. The President urged the Assembly to follow Spain’s lead in submitting the proposal that foreign debt be exchanged for educational, public health and cultural development programs. As reported in El Caribe, Fernandez emphasized the fact that all development programs were threatened by the recent increase in the price of oil that “threatens a world-wide recession.”