Diario Libre reports that the Coalition of Support for the DR-CAFTA
requested Congress to consider that the approval of the agreement in
the US legislative branch as almost certain and that local reforms
must be rushed to make productive sectors competitive. Jorge Ivan
Ramirez and Hugo Rivera, promoters of the DR-CAFTA, said that the
agreement would come into effect in January if the US approves it in
July. Although the DR could ask for an extension for its application,
such a delay would put free zone industry exports at risk of Central
American countries taking a head start at securing contracts.