President Leonel Fernández took advantage of the Monday, 10 January Three Kings holiday to receive visiting international executives at the National Palace. These included top executives from the University of Notre Dame, the Malaysian consortium Berhad and Unilever Ltd. University of Notre Dame. University of Notre Dame executives, Edward A. Malloy, president of the university, and Timothy Scully and James McDonald met with President Fernández accompanied by Diógenes Fernández, a former governor of the Central Bank. News reports indicate they spoke of informatics education programs and an increase in scholarships. Berhad Consortium. The chief executive of Berhad consortium, from Malaysia, visited to announce the installation of two 100-megawatt barges that would sell energy to Dominican electrical distributors. The company will be investing US$120 million to install and connect the generators. Joseph Chong represents Westmont Land Berhad, Sabah Shipyard SDN and Wing Tiek Holdings Berhad. Marcos Cochón, Superintendent of Electricity, who served as interpreter, said that Malaysian technicians would spend three days in the DR choosing the site for the docking of the barges. The first of the two plants is expected to connect to the nation electricity grid by May of this year, with the second going on line in another five months. The businessmen also showed an interest in participating in the new Cyberpark, the Santo Domingo high tech industrial park promoted by the Fernández administration. Unilever Ltd. President Fernández also met on Monday with top executives of Unilever, the largest manufacturer of consumer products in the world. Niall Fitzgerald, Unilever LTD director; Ralph Kugler, president for Latin America business of the group; and Anand Bhatia, president of Unilever Dominicana visited accompanied by Jose Miguel Bonetti Guerra, president of Mercasid and Roberto Bonetti Guerra, executive vice president. According to the Listin Diario, Fitzgerald is the chief executive officer of Unilever. Sales of the company were more than US$45,000 million in 1998. José Miguel Bonetti said that the group met with President Fernandez to express its interest in converting the DR into the regional center of operations for the Caribbean for Unilever Ltd.
