Commonwealth Roundtable urges safeguarding legal security

Press Release

Santo Domingo.- The Roundtable of the Commonwealth Countries in the Dominican Republic on Monday held a meeting with managers of chambers of commerce and other business entities for World Commonwealth Day, during which its president Fernando González Nicolás, highlighted the influence that these nations exercise over the local economy, as a source of investment and as a destination for exports.

In the commemorative meeting, which was chaired by British ambassador, Chris Campbell, González Nicolás stressed that national exports to the countries of the Commonwealth are the second most important destination, after the United States.

He said that in 2018 and 2019 Dominican exports to the United States amounted to 4.7 and 5.1 billion dollars, respectively, and that to the countries of the Commonwealth in these same periods, 2.0 and 1.1 billion dollars were exported , respectively, being the main minerals and agricultural products.

He said that of the 54 countries of the Commonwealth, the main destinations for Dominican exports in 2019 were India, with 420 million dollars; Canada, with 352 million dollars; Great Britain, with 109 million dollars; and Jamaica, with 74 million dollars, among others.

The British Commonwealth Day event, which is commemorated on the first Monday of March of each year, was attended by Collin Holditch, Consul General of Canada; Leonel Melo, president of the British Chamber of Commerce; Gustavo de Hostos, president of the Canadian Dominican Chamber; Dermendra Basita, president of the Chamber of Commerce of India and Edmundo Gil, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago.

In addition, Norman de Castro, president of the Association of Friends of South Africa and consul of that country; Antonio Ramos, executive vice president of the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce; and Ivonne García, deputy executive director of the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), among others.

González Nicolás said that the chambers of commerce play a leading role in the development of trade, investment and exports between countries. “It’s also worth noting that the main exporters have been companies from the countries of the Commonwealth, especially in the mining sector.”

The president of the Roundtable of Commonwealth Countries in the Dominican Republic expects the nation to continue increasing its relations with the Commonwealth countries, for mutual benefit, and recalled that the countries that have achieved prosperity and education in the world have done so by prioritizing the attraction of foreign investment and strengthening exports.

“For this reason, we urge the current Dominican rulers and future ones to come, to continue taking measures to protect foreign investment through guaranteeing legal security and establishing legislation that is attractive to international investors, who in the end are the ones who invest.”