1998 – Page 144

President Leonel Fernández signed along with 33 leaders of the Americas the action plan to create the world’s largest free trade zone stretching from Alaska to Patagonia by 2005 and uniting 800 million people and economies worth $10 trillion. The Free Trade Area of the Americas would be more than double the size of the …

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It couldn’t have come in handier for President Leonel Fernández. An Argentine journalist covering the presidential summit in Santiago de Chile, interested in obtaining the opinion of the Dominican statesman on re-election (President Menem seeks to reform the Argentinean Constitution to allow re-election), asked President Fernández to comment on re-election in Latin America. President Fernández …

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President Leonel Fernández will travel to Haiti in June to meet with President Rene Preval. This year he also will host the visits of the presidents of Mexico, Brazil, Cuba and Caribbean Community nations. In Chile, President Fernández met with Bill Clinton and expressed his concern that free zones have not received textile parity with …

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Only 120 lawyers showed up for the public evaluations that were held to choose the judges for the San Juan de la Maguana jurisdiction. The Supreme Court in full traveled to the southwestern province for the questioning of the possible judges. Five of the working judges did not show up for questioning, and thus were …

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Distribuidora Corripio, importer of Samsung and Whirlpool electrical appliances, announced it was launching Nedoca refrigerators. The Nedoca brand was equal to good quality and its refrigerators were known to be still working after 15 years. Corripio announced it will be marketing 16, 12 and 12 foot Nedoca refrigerators specially adapted for Dominican hardship conditions, such …

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Central American leaders were in Santo Domingo on 16 April for the signing of the Central American free trade agreement with the Dominican Republic. Dominican negotiator Federico Cuello explained that the agreement is a state of the art treaty that incorporates all contemporary trade schemes such as those contained in the NAFTA agreement. The agreement …

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President Leonel Fernández said that even though the Dominican Republic and Central American countries do not share a common currency, the free trade agreement signed on 16 April is the start of a relationship where all will benefit from economic growth and trade expansion. He compared the signing of the agreement to riding the engine …

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Arthur Frommer’s web site’s Daily News Magazine refers to the Dominican Republic "as one of the best-priced islands –maybe even the winner — in the Caribbean. In today’s issue, http://www.frommers.com/newsletters/04-15-98/article1.html, they mention the low-season bargain prices available at Metro and Costa Caribe hotels in the Juan Dolio beach area.

The Union of Needletraders, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) is financing a tour of two fired employees of a Korean-owned baseball cap factory in the Dominican Republic. The union is protesting that the workers are paid poverty wages and receive abusive treatment in the Korean-owned factory, BJ&B. The factory employs over 2,000 people, mostly young …

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Equus Gaming Company, a publicly traded partnership with horse racing and gaming interests in the Puerto Rico (El Comandante Race Track) and the Dominican Republic (V Centenario Race Track), announced operating revenues of V Centenario in the Dominican Republic improved by US$452,000 (9%) from US$5,036,000 in 1996 to US$5,488,000 in 1997, while operating costs in …

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