2008 – Page 183

Investors are asking the Ministry of Tourism to help reduce all the red tape involved in approving tourism projects by creating a one-stop approval process. The one-stop process would include the paperwork required by the Ministries of Public Works, Environment and Tourism. Ministry of Tourism sub Minister Radhames Martinez Aponte said that investors had proposed …

Read more…

US officials have once again pledged to help the DR in fighting the war against drugs. During a conversation with US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Joseph Nimmich, National Drug Control Department (DNCD) director Rafael Radhames Ramirez Ferreira spoke about the successes the DR has had in the war against drugs. He added that the major …

Read more…

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is the latest organization to chime in on the Santo Domingo Metro project. Although the first line of the Metro is almost complete, the UNDP is criticizing the government for not releasing the environmental studies, plans and or budgets for a public works project of that size. In a …

Read more…

Angela Hills, head of Health, Safety and Operational Support at the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) says that British newspapers aren’t publishing relevant tourist information provided by the Dominican Tourism promotion office in London. She added that in cases where information is provided, it is relegated to the back page of the papers. Hills said …

Read more…

The National Free Trade Council for Exports has approved the creation of 22 new companies that will be opened in the free trade zones (FTZ). The incorporation of the new businesses will require an investment of RD$832.2 million and could generate as much as US$22 million in revenues and salaries. The new businesses are expected …

Read more…

The Center for Exports and Investments – Dominican Republic (CEI-RD) is reporting that representatives from twelve US companies are interested in importing Dominican grown mangos. The US firms are based in New York, New Jersey and Miami. In recent years the Dominican mango has become a hot agricultural commodity. The DR has 1,014 mango producers …

Read more…

For the next five years the DR will receive RD$12 billion (EUR220 million) as part of a non-refundable cooperation program. National Authorizing Office for European Funds (ONFED) director Onofre Rojas said that the funds are part of a promise made by the European parliament that seeks to direct 0.56% of its GDP towards development in …

Read more…

FENATRANO transport union leader Juan Hubieres said that if the government removes the fuel subsidies on public transport fares, prices would go up accordingly. Hubieres said that next week fares would go up to RD$35 per ride and in the coming weeks, without the fuel subsidy, prices would be adjusted according to the price of …

Read more…

Yesterday, members of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) held a protest rally outside the Presidential Palace, but the government didn’t even send out an envoy to meet with the doctors. The rally ended without incident shortly after midday. Hoy writes that the Senate is willing to intervene to try to work out a solution. One …

Read more…

Interior and Police Minister Franklyn Almeyda is recovering at Cedar Medical Center in Miami after undergoing heart surgery earlier this week. Officials say that Almeyda had an obstruction in his aortic valve corrected. Listin Diario writes that the obstruction was a result of an endocarditic infection in 2006.