According to Industry & Commerce Minister Sonia Guzm?n de Hernandez, the United States has proposed that the Dominican Republic enter the negotiations for a free trade agreement. The suggestion, however, is that the DR join in the ongoing negotiations with Central America, in what is called a ?docking? clause. The deputy minister for foreign trade, Hugo Rivera Fernandez, explained that in the meeting of the Joint Council for Commerce and Investment, the United States defined, for the first time, the possibility of the Dominican Republic joining the Central American nations in these free trade negotiations.