Hub Dominican Republic; the Caribbean’s supermarket

Santo Domingo.- Several private and public associations and agencies on Monday signed an agreement hosted by the Roundtable of Commonwealth Countries in the Dominican Republic to promote the country as a major distribution center among the Commonwealth’s 53 nations, which account for a market of over  US$10.5 trillion, with 25 percent of the global trade.

With “Dominican Republic, the Caribbean’s supermarket” as the logo, the business leader and officials signed the agreement in a gathering held in the Dominican Industries Association’s (AIRD) Torre Empresarial.

Roundtable president Fernando González Nicolás, the heads of the associations of Dominican Logistics Operators Centers (ASOLOGIC), Salvador Figueroa Sánchez; of the Exporters (ADOEXPO), Álvaro Sousa Sevilla, and of Shippers (ANRD), Ewald Heinsen.

Customs director Enrique Ramírez; National Competitiveness Council director Rafael Paz and Dominican Port Authority director Víctor Gómez Casanova also signed the agreement.

Present in the ceremony were the ambassadors of Great Britain, Chris Campbell and of Canada, Shauna Hemingway; the consuls Fernando Rainieri, of Australia; Hernando Pérez, from the Bahamas; Emilio Hasbun, from Barbados, and Federico Reyes, Vice Consul of Trinidad.

Also Jamaica Embassy Charge d’Affaires Thomas Allan Marley; Guillermo Álvarez and Francesca Ortiz, vice president and executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce; José Miguel Vega and Odile Miniño, vice president and executive vice president of ADOEXPO; Roundtable vice president Roberto Herrera; José María Cabral, secretary, and Campos de Moya, treasurer.

González said the agreement forms part of the Commonwealth’s World Day, noting that the pact will allow that group countries to “continue to have as influential sources of foreign investment, of trade and of knowledge for our nation.”

“The current authorities are creating the conditions to modernize the processes and policies that promote international trade, impacting on the distribution centers, and noted the bolstering of the National Competitiveness Council, the modernized Customs and port infrastructure, the establishment of the one-stop foreign trade window, the Caribbean Exports Table, the Trade Facilitation Commission, and the declaration of the Year of Exports Promotion,” said ASOLOGIC president Salvador Figueroa Sánchez.

“The Dominican Republic, in addition to its privileged geographical position, enjoys competitive logistical advantages such as a legal framework and adequate transverse provisions, excellent maritime, air, road and communication connectivity of data and voice,” he said.

“We have a well structured logistics platform in ports, airports, 3PL logistics operators, storage warehouses, among others, which are mostly certified by the Organization of American States (OAS), with international certifications on security and quality, and also the country is a signatory of several important bilateral and multilateral international trade agreements.”

Figueroa added that international trade is “increasingly governed by agile and reliable procedural rules, which maintains a large-scale tourism, and in addition has a large internal market of consumers, plus the market of our border neighbor.”

Location, location

Fernando Gonzales Nicolas, Chris Campbell, Rafael Paz and Salvador Figueroa all agree that Dominican Republic’s geographical location is among the key competitive advantages to pave the way to becoming the region’s trade hub.