President Fern?ndez’s European tour today will start to yield its first tangible fruits. Nine bilateral accords are to be signed today and tomorrow. The agreements to be signed today grabbing the most headlines in Santo Domingo involve (1) a letter of intent to purchase five helicopters for the Dominican Air Force (FAD); (2) a financing agreement for the construction of a tramway in Santo Domingo. On the former, Dominican officials stress that the US$10 million purchase is for rescue, aid and other non-military purposes, although the FAD will administer their use. The tramway accord involves financing by the French Development Agency; a feasibility study just completed two days ago (a prerequisite to get French help) estimates the cost of building the tram as between US$146 million and US$175 million. As envisioned, the tram would commence at Kilometer 9 on the Duarte Highway, run the length of Avenida John F. Kennedy until it reaches the elevated portion, follow San Mart?n to reach Avenida 27 de Febrero near the Braulio Alvarez Park, and pass along Avenida Duarte until stopping at the S?nchez bridge. President Fern?ndez will urge French officials to accelerate normally slow disbursal processes so that the project might start by June this year. Administration officials would like to complete the project and demonstrate its value before the end of Fern?ndez’s term of office in August 2000.The other agreements include: a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) protecting investment flows between the two countries; an extradition agreement; an agreement to improve market access for Dominican coffee, rum and tobacco products in the French market; two technical assistance agreements on legal matters, one with the French Government to help build the DR’s planned National Magistrate School to train judges, and to assist in strengthening the functioning of the Public Ministry and Attorney-General’s Office, and another with the Supreme Court to provide training for the new School’s professors; a technical assistance agreement to create a school to train career Dominican diplomats, creating a professional diplomatic corps; for improving the DR’s civil aviation regime, modernizing the Dominican judicial system.
