2010 – Page 251

The Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is encouraging journalists to write about trade. The focus is the European Partnership Agreement (EPA), and the winner of the first prize will receive RD$250,000. There is RD$150,000 for the second prize and RD$100,000 for the third. Two honorary mentions will each receive …

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Twenty minors smuggled in from Haiti have been rescued by the authorities and sent to a children’s home. The children were begging in Santiago, the country’s second largest city. The Migration Department says that the children also worked cleaning vehicle windows on street corners. The minors told the authorities their parents were alive and that …

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The president of the Principality of Asturias, Vicente Alvarez Areces is heading a mission of Spanish business leaders to the DR. The group is on an 11-day market-searching tour that includes stops in the DR, Panama, Mexico and Cuba. 31 companies are represented. Of the group, 22 will visit the first three countries, and nine …

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The 13th International Santo Domingo Book Fair opens on 21 April. The fair will take place at the Plaza de la Cultura Juan Pablo Duarte, as reported in Diario Libre. Activities will last through 9 May. This year, several writers will be honored, including Frank Moya Pons, Jose Rafael Sosa, Carlos Nina Gomez, Diogenes Valdez, …

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On Monday 19 April, check out the Banda Real, which will be playing at Jet Set disco, with mambo king Jovanny Polanco. Banda Real is known for playing grassroots merengue and can also be danced to on Fridays at the Andy Ranch in Santiago. The performance follows on from shows by Tono Rosario and Kiko …

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President Leonel Fernandez is traveling to the Colombian city of Cartagena today, to take part in a meeting of the Latin American section of the World Economic Forum. Fernandez will be accompanied by Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, and Economy, Planning and Development Minister Temistocles Montas. The meeting agenda includes discussions of Haiti’s reconstruction, …

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The government is assuring a skeptical Dominican public that there will be no new tax hikes or what have been called “tax reforms” following the elections. There will be no increases in electricity rates either. At least that is what they are saying. Vice President Rafael Alburquerque denied claims that the government is thinking of …

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Economy, Planning and Development Minister Temistocles Montas has announced that the government will embark on a series of meetings this Thursday with all the DR’s political parties with the aim of exchanging opinions on the proposed National Development Strategy (END in Spanish). The government proposal will first be presented to specialists and politicians from the …

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President Leonel Fernandez has sent another loan package, this time for US$50 million, to the National Congress by way of the Senate. The loan is a credit that has been negotiated with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to fund the latest Ten-Year Plan for Education. This project is part of a line of conditional credit …

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Politicians, business leaders and civil society representatives have spoken out in response to yesterday’s news that the proposed sale of 49% of shares of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) to Venezuela’s state petroleum company PDVSA was going ahead. The Dominican Republic Industries Association (AIRD), the National Business Council (CONEP), the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), …

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