Santo Domingo, DR – The president of the Dominican Republic’s Commonwealth Countries Roundtable, Fernando González Nicolás, said that in 2021 local trade with the 54 countries that make up the Commonwealth will increase to US$2.108 billion.
González Nicolás added that the exchange increased by 11 percent compared to the 1,904 million dollars achieved in 2020 and stressed that bilateral trade relations with these nations were balanced and healthy for both parties because the volumes of exports were very similar to imports.
He gave as an example that, in 2021, Dominicans exported to the Commonwealth countries the sum of 1,044 million dollars, while we imported from them a total of 1,063 million dollars.
The main destinations for exports of Dominican products to these nations were, in the first place, India with a total of 665 million dollars this year; followed by Great Britain, with 80 million dollars; Jamaica, with 77 million dollars; Canada, with 49 million dollars; and in fifth place, Trinidad and Tobago, with 34 million dollars.
González Nicolás projects that, by 2022, exports to Commonwealth countries will continue to increase, as well as investments from these countries to the Dominican Republic.
He specified that at present, the investments coming from the countries of the Commonwealth are among the most important in the country, especially in the mining, banking, free zones, beverages, among other sectors.
The president of the Commonwealth Board sees as very attractive the investment and business climate offered by the Dominican Republic and with a tendency to continue improving.
He recognized the efforts made by the new government of President Luis Abinader to support and encourage the business and investment climate, which is based on reducing bureaucracy, promoting transparency and respect for legal certainty, and for these reasons, the international rankings and indexes that the country is receiving are excellent.
On the other hand, the Mesa de la Mancomunidad highlighted the importance of the mining sector in the Dominican economy and pointed out that they are the leading investors in this area.
He affirmed that “at the Mesa de la Mancomunidad we understand that the measures being taken at the Ministry of Energy and Mines will tend to normalize and promote responsible mining and that at the beginning of next year significant and concrete progress will begin to be seen in the mining sector.
“It is appropriate to understand that the false media campaign of years against mining has been the main destabilizing factor that has not allowed the normal development of this activity,” said González Nicolás.
Finally, he urged investors from the Commonwealth countries to trust the new authorities and work together with them to make the business and investment climate in the Dominican Republic more attractive for the benefit of all.”