2008 – Page 285

In the last ten years the DR has received 26 million tourists, of whom 12 million were from Europe and 3 million from Germany. This growth has made the European, and the German market in particular, attractive to the Dominican tourism sector, according to Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez, who spoke at the ITB Fair in …

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The Micro, Small and Medium Sized Businesses Promotion Program (PROPYMES) and the National District Prosecutors Office have signed a cooperation agreement through which an RD$50 million fund will be created. That fund will provide loans, at favorable rates, to women who have been victims of domestic violence. The agreement comes on the eve of the …

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International oil prices have reached another all-time high, reaching US$105 per barrel. This is the third time in two weeks that the barrel has reached record highs. Last week the price per barrel reached US$102 and US$103 on consecutive days of trading. The increase in oil prices is partly due to OPEC’s decision to maintain …

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The National Housing Bank (BNV) has announced that it is dropping interest rates as a way of providing incentives to homebuyers and stimulating the housing and construction markets. Interest rates are now at 10.95% annually with payment plans of up to 40. BNV president Leonardo Matos Berrido spoke during a press conference and explained the …

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Anyone visiting Santo Domingo today or tomorrow should be aware that the celebration of the XX Rio Summit has led to the closure of a number of roads near the Foreign Ministry building, so plan accordingly and try to find alternative routes beforehand. From 6am today until 7pm on Friday, George Washington Avenue, between Maximo …

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Because of the XX Rio Group Summit, officials at the UASD University’s main campus have canceled classes beginning at noon today and extending until Saturday. Administrative services at the University will run normally and classes at other UASD campuses will be held as usual. UASD dean Franklin Garcia Fermin said that the schedules would be …

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Dominican music superstar Juan Luis Guerra is teaming up with Mexican rock group Mana to host a concert in Miami, Florida as a way to get Hispanic/Latino voters out to the polls for the US presidential election in November. The concert will be held on 11 March at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. Tickets …

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The working sessions for the XX Rio Group Summit Conference, scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Santo Domingo, are under way. National coordinators from all member countries have been hard at work reviewing their ministerial and presidential agendas and programs, and work was even being done on the final summit declaration. According to official Dominican …

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The Rio Group Summit meeting could become the scene of high-level mediation by Dominican President Leonel Fernandez. Fernandez has held telephone conversations with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa as a step towards “reducing tensions.” Fernandez, the host for the XX Rio Group Summit that starts this week and president Pro …

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The government has opened talks aimed at a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C. yesterday. The team leader, Central Bank governor Hector Valdez Albizu, is in Washington for the talks. He and his team of banking experts are following instructions from President Fernandez, who asked them to “find what kind …

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