2001 – Page 97

Transparency International, a civil society organization dedicated to curbing both international and national corruption, ranked the DR 63rd among 91 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index 2001. The Dominican Republic was not included in the 2000 or 1999 Indexes. Other rankings in the Americas are: Canada (7th), USA (16th), Chile (18th), Trinidad & Tobago (31st), …

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Samuel Conde, spokesman for the Zona Franca Multimodal Caucedo, announced the start of construction for the end of August. The mega port which will handle container cargo, automobiles and other wheeled vehicles, and probably cruise ship travel, will be carried out with an investment of more than US$250 million. The new port will have an …

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Los Guandules, La Cienaga, Guachupita, Agua Dulce, 27 de Febrero and Padre Castellanos slum neighborhoods suffered through violent protests yesterday supposedly spurred by the frustrations of blackouts of more than 48 hours. Power distributor companies have reduced supply to the low income neighborhoods as part of new policy of restricting supply to neighborhoods with a …

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President Mejia returned the control over all trade agreement negotiations to the Ministry of Foreign Relations. The trade agreements will again be handled by the National Commission of Trade Negotiations (CNNC), that is under the Ministry of Foreign Relations since its creation to this effect in 1996. Santiago Tejada, in charge of CNNC, said that …

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During the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Relations it was also decided that the President would name a commission to study alternatives for when in 2003 tax incentives end for the free zones, as per agreements reached with the World Trade Organization. Jeanette Dominguez, director of the National Council of Export Free Zones (CNZFE) …

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President Hipolito Mejia will travel to Bahamas to participate with observer status in deliberations of the XXII Summit of Caricom Heads of Government from 4-6 July. The press department of the Presidency, says President Mejia will take advantage of the meeting to push for the start of the implementation of the Caribbean Free Trade Agreement …

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Colonel Miguel Martinez Roa, director of the National Office for Information Technology, an Executive Branch dependency, announced the start of a program to help government employees purchase computers. The program, “Programa una computadora para cada empleado publico” will provide low cost financing through the state commercial bank, Banco de Reservas, so that each public employee …

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President Hipolito Mejia told Listin Diario that the government is ready to eliminate all restrictions and establish incentives and special facilities to attract the savings of Dominicans living abroad. President Mejia said that Dominicans have thousands in savings in the US and the country needs to put into place mechanisms to lure these savings to …

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PLD deputies acted against the dividing up of the National District into three provinces and a National District (city of Santo Domingo at the Chamber of Deputies yesterday. The PLD opposes the bill sent by the Executive Branch on grounds it would only mean more government spending for the creation of the new departments without …

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