At yesterday’s press conference in Caracas, President Fern?ndez told reporters that he has urged his fellow heads of state from Caribbean and Central American nations to make common cause and present a united front to demand "textile parity" from the U.S. He suggested that the Summit of Caribbean Heads of State, to be held in Santo Domingo April 16-17, 1999, was the logical place to agree on the elements of a common position. "Textile parity" refers to the idea espoused by many U.S. officials and desired by most Caribbean Basin nations to give Caribbean and Central American nations the same market access for their textile exports that Mexico won for its textiles under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Ever since the implementation of NAFTA Mexican textiles have been gaining market share in the U.S., often at the expense of textile exports from neighboring nations. Textile parity would probably benefit the DR more than any other nation, since it is a major textile exporter to the U.S. thanks to its free zone ("zona franca") operations. The textile parity proposal has never been approved by the U.S. Congress, despite White House support.
