The United States and the DR will work ?closely? to combat corruption, reduce poverty, improve, improve health and education, foster judicial and police reform, and maintain economic stability. So said Peter Romero, U.S., Under-Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, after meeting with President Hipolito Mejia and top government officials. Speaking to the press after emerging from the three-hour session, Romero encouraged Mejia to build on the ?excellent results? of the economic initiatives of recent years. He also urged the DR to continue with enforcement of its new laws concerning the protection of intellectual property and, in general, to align the country more closely with current standards of international law. Romero headed a U.S. delegation that included Ambassador Charles Manatt. The Dominican side included Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, most cabinet officers, and members of the presidential staff. Later, the two sides issued a joint declaration in which the U.S. praised advances in judicial reform. It also encouraged renewed effort with the reform the National Police, the battle against drug traffic and organized crime, respect for human rights, and anti-corruption measures. For its part, the Dominican government praised the recently adopted renewal and enlargement of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, as a result of which the DR will be able to create thirty-five thousand new jobs. The public session, which was partially open to reporters, was preceded by a private meeting between Romero, Manatt, Mejia and Foreign Minister Hugo Tolentino Dipp, from which the press was excluded and about which no details were released.
