Henry Comber, general manager of Citibank in the DR, urged the authorities to increase the investment in education. In his opinion, the country needs more skilled people to maintain the present levels of growth and development. He said that countries like Costa Rica are advancing at attracting cyberpark clients given their planned investment in educating the population. He said Costa Ricans are now harvesting good results for their investment. Comber stresses, "In this country we have to invest in bilingual education, in informatics and in schools," he said. For 2001, 16% of the budget is being allotted to education. Comber believes the DR has the potential, because of its geographic position, of becoming the service center of the Caribbean. "If we have good ports, good telecommunication, technology and a sufficiently efficient financial system, why can’t we become that center?" He said foreign companies would choose the DR as base of their operation, instead of spreading their operations in several countries.
