On the eve of today’s hearings in the United States Senate, hearings that will deal with the Free Trade Agreement called DR-CAFTA (Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement), lobbying has intensified on all levels. Dominican ambassador in Washington, Flavio Dario Espinal said that the hearings come at a good time.
A commission of senators from the DR traveled to New York to meet with legislators, officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative and ambassadors from Central America.
Last week the Dominican ministers of Labor and Industry and Commerce visited the US capital.
Ambassador Espinal said that the timing was opportune, since attention was now being focused on the FTA agreement.
Alejandro Santos, the head of the Senate Commission on Industry, Commerce and Free Trade Zones, told El Caribe that there is concern among the Democrats regarding labor laws, industrial and intellectual property rights and environmental aspects that the participating nations have corrected by means of conventions and the signing of the White Book. There are some Republican senators that do not support the trade agreement, most of whom are from sugar-producing states.