1996 – Page 85

Umar-Holderbank, the company that recently acquired a majority stake at the national cement company, has announced that it will start importing equipment to build a production plant with an annual capacity of 850 thousand tonnes as part of the first of three phases. The State Enterprises Corporation (CORDE) has already provided the company with 770 …

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The British Ambassador, Dick Thomson, told the press that the U.K. Foreign Office has asked the Dominican Republic to appoint an ambassador to Great Britain. The British embassy in Santo Domingo was closed in the early 1980s due to budgetary constraints, forcing the Dominican government to follow suit. For the last few years, however, bilateral …

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The daily newspaper Hoy reports that the sugar quota allocated to the Dominican Republic in the U.S. market at preferential prices may increase by 35,200 to 44,000 tons in the coming days. According to the report, the global quota will be raised by 200 thousand to 250 thousand tons. The country holds 17.6 of the …

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The Dominican authorities are keen to obtain the consent of the Haitian government to allow the country to export an additional 40 thousand tons of bananas to the EU as part of Haiti’s quota. To that effect, officials from both countries recently met during President Preval’s visit to Santo Domingo. Haiti is currently unable to …

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The major business associations have announced that they will unilaterally apply the wage adjustment mandated by the law. The associations say they made the decision due to the government’s failure to adhere to Law 11-92, which created the Tributary Code. The adjustment will be effective from this month, exempting those earning up to RD$83,140 per …

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In his first official visit since taking office on 7 February, Haitian President Rene García Preval met with his Dominican counterpart, Joaquin Balaguer, at the National Palace in Santo Domingo on 12 and 13 March. Mr. García Preval and Dr. Balaguer signed a series of agreements designed to promote cultural, scientific and technical cooperation and …

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The longest doctors’ strike in the history of the D.R. is well into its fourth month, and conflicting statements have recently been made by the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Victor Garcia Santos, and the president of the Asociación Médica Dominicana (AMD), Dr. Francisco Cano González. While Dr. Garcia Santos claims that over 50% of …

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Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, part of the group heading the preliminary administration of the new medical center being constructed on the grounds of the old Perla Antillana horse racing track, introduced the news media to two of the doctors based in Boston who will serve as liasons between the medical complex and Harvard …

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The Minister of Sports, Francisco Jose (Cuqui) Torres, has warned that starting on 21 March all winning tickets at the betting shops (bancas) will be levied a 3% tax, with the proceeds going to the Ministry of Sports (SEDEFIR). Mr. Torres held a meeting at the Palacio de Deportes with representatives of the betting shops, …

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Eight men armed with shotguns and dressed as agents of the Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas (DNCD) robbed the Maunaloa Casino on 14 March, getting away with more than RD$600,000 in cash, according to the casino’s administrator Edmon Elias Vásquez. The robbers did not, however, take the U.S. currency and checks that were in …

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