2009 – Page 95

Manny Mota arrived in Los Angeles in 1969, and 40 years later the legendary Dominican is still with his beloved team, living what most would consider a dream. And for a few moments, before yesterday’s Dodgers Pirates game, Chavez Rivine Stadium, was converted into the Caribbean, as the Dodgers paid tribute to Mota’s 40 years …

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Volunteers can still sign up to contribute their efforts to Beach Clean-Up Day, which is taking place on Saturday, 19 September in the DR as well as all around the world. The Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Clean-up initiative is coordinated in the DR by Fundacion Vida Azul, the leading marine environmental group. The clean-up work …

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Wang Zhen, director for the Foundation for International Studies, said yesterday that of the 20 Latin American nations that trade with China, the DR has the largest trade deficit. China traded US$140 billion with Latin America in 2008. Trade with the DR was about 10% of the total, but one-sided. Over the past 4 years, …

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A World Bank report indicates that the DR’s Customs Department (DGA) is second in Latin America in having achieved reductions in cost and paperwork for imports and exports. Customs director Rafael Camilo welcomed the news, describing it as important and transcendental. The DR is listed 2nd on the list in 2009 in the Trading Across …

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The DR’s current budget deficit is not sustainable, according to Franco Uccelli, vice president of JP Morgan’s Emerging Markets department. Uccelli expects the DR will end the year with a 3.5% deficit in its GDP, twice what the government had forecast. He spoke during a breakfast organized by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. Uccelli believes …

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Diario Libre editorial today drives home the point that the government has to start saving. “The Dominican state lacks a coherent resource distribution policy. All public works are built with international loans,” comments the newspaper in its editorial today. It also makes the point: “Neither is there money to adequately maintain the infrastructure, or to …

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The National Business Council (Conep) has published a paid full-page ad in leading newspapers rejecting the proposal that city governments should be allowed to create taxes. Conep is concerned about Article 1987 of the proposed new Constitution: “City governments may establish tariffs in their territory authorized by law.” Conep interprets it to mean that this …

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Manuel Labrado, local representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), announced that next week an IDB mission will meet with Celso Marranzini, the newly-appointed vice President of the State-Owned Electricity Companies (CDEEE). The IDB will offer support for dealing with the problems plaguing the DR electricity sector.

Doctors and the government are still trying to work out an agreement, yet by the looks of it the chances of any imminent accord are not good. Yesterday, during the latest meeting between the Dominican Medical Association, mediator Monsignor Agripino Nunez and Minister of Public Health Bautista Rojas Gomez, the Minister walked out of the …

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According to Director of Prisons Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez, there are 37,000 Dominicans in jail across the world. Of that number an estimated 17,000 are in jail in the US. Perez said that the DR’s Prosecutor General’s Office has created a special department to track the progress of those 37,0000 cases. He added that …

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