Foreign Relations Minister Miguel Vargas and Minister of Economic Development of Curacao Ivan Steve Martina signed on Monday, 3 December 2018, the negotiation framework of a Partial Scope Agreement for increasing trade and cooperation between both countries. In a press release, the Ministry of Foreign Relations explains that talks will now be stepped up to facilitate bilateral trade and find more ways both economies can complement each other.
Foreign Minister Vargas Maldonado pointed out that Dominican manufacturers can become important suppliers to the Curacao markets, and the countries can become strategic partners in tourism, positioning the two nations as an attractive multi-destination in the Caribbean.
Martina expressed optimism the agreement would be signed in the first months of 2019 and will be a win-win situation for both countries. “Minister, we are ready,” he said. “We are going to do business for the benefit of our peoples,” he said.
Trade negotiations in the Dominican Republic are under the umbrella of the National Commission for Trade Negotiations (CNNC), an inter-institutional body, based at the Ministry of Foreign Relations.
The signing took place at the convention center of the Ministry of Foreign Relations. Attending was Netherlands Ambassador Annemieke Verrijp; Campos de Moya, president of the Dominican Republic Association of Industries (AIRD); César Dargam, executive vice president of the National Business Council (Conep) and Marius de León, executive director of the Center for Export & Investment of the Dominican Republic (CEI-RD).
Participating for Curacao, together with Martina, were the president of the Permanent Commission for International Trade and International Economic Relations of Curacao, Caryl Monte; the Curacao customs agency director Soraya Pols-Strick, and the director of the Curacao Division for International Economic Cooperation, Vanessa Tore.
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Mirex
11 December 2018
