The National Council of Competitiveness (CNC) was launched officially yesterday with the participation of President Hipolito Mejia, Industry & Commerce Minister Sonia Guzman and leading business organizations. President Mejia, speaking briefly at the event, encouraged Dominican businesspeople to unite with the government through the council. Minister Guzman argued that the adversaries of competitiveness are protectionism without planning, subsidies to inefficient industries, artificial controls over currency markets and inflation, and above all inefficient and bureaucratic government processes. She said that to effectively compete the nation?s strategy must focus on stimulating export companies. The new council?s goal is to maintain a diversified productive platform that is fully integrated to the world economy by 2008, which will base itself on the development of the production sectors and highly competitive clusters that generate increased foreign currency and jobs. Andres Vanderhorst is the executive director of the CNC.
