The II Summit of Heads of Government and State of the Association of Caribbean States opens tomorrow in Santo Domingo. Some 25 statesmen from the Caribbean Basin will examine where the region stands at the advent of the new millennium. With the exception of President Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, who flew in last night for a prior state visit, the statesmen will land on Friday, 16 April as of 2 pm at the Las Americas Airport. The event will be formally inaugurated at the National Theater at 7:30 pm that evening, after which a reception in the gardens of the National Theater for attending missions and a concurrent private dinner for the Presidents and their wives at 7:30 pm in the Salon Verde of the National Palace. The statesmen will attend a first work session at Hotel Jaragua’s Salon Anacaona from 9 to 11 am of Saturday, 17 April. "From Port of Spain 1995 to Santo Domingo 1999" and "The Caribbean in the 21st Century" will be topics of the discussions. From 1 pm to 3 pm the statesmen will participate in a private luncheon at the executive dining room of the Central Bank and from 3 to 5 pm in a private meeting at the auditorium of the Central Bank. At 6:30 pm, the statesmen will sign the Declaration of Santo Domingo and participate in the closing of the event at the new School of Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Relations. The new facility, together with remodeling of the Ministry’s headquarters, has only recently been completed, calling for a RD$93 million investment. Some 300 persons can be seated in the new auditorium of the School of Diplomacy. That same evening, President Fern?ndez will host a Dominican Night at the Fortaleza Ozama of the Colonial City at 8:30 pm. The governors are slated to return to their respective countries on Sunday. Since day one of his presidency, President Leonel Fern?ndez proposed to put the diplomatic isolation of the DR in the past and turn the nation into a key player in promoting regional integration and trade as an instrument for economic development. His first successes were the signing of a free trade agreement with Central America in April 1998, and the subsequent signing of a similar agreement with the English-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations in August of last year. The meeting in Santo Domingo of the later two trade groups, with the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba, and the larger Caribbean Basin countries of Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia is seen as a major political and regional accomplishment for Dominican diplomacy. All together, the region has a US$474,000 Gross Product, trade of US$140,000 million and is a consumer market of 200 million people.
