The president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, has highlighted the investment opportunities in the Caribbean country and has affirmed his intention to establish an agenda with the aim of “invigorating” trade and investment relations with Europe, through dialogue direct with the European economies and a program of tax exemptions and incentives for investment companies.
Abinader, a businessman in the tourism sector who won the August 2020 elections with an absolute majority, has highlighted the investment opportunities in the Caribbean country in an event organized by the Business Council Alianza por Iberoamérica (Ceapi), the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic Dominican Republic in Spain and supported by Casa de América.
In this sense, the president has highlighted the “strategic geographical location” of the country in the center of the Caribbean to establish an important commercial link between Europe and America, forming a network of more than 1,000 million consumers.
On his side, Abinader has stressed the existence of a “solid” legal and incentive scheme for companies that want to invest in the Dominican Republic, guaranteeing to offer legal security to investors and a set of incentives and tax exemptions in their plans.
The president has also highlighted the diplomatic and commercial relations with Spain for more than 160 years, which have formed “unalterable” historical ties, which make the country “one of the main commercial and investment partners with the Caribbean economy.” .
Currently, the Dominican Republic is a diversified economy that has more than 30,000 million dollars (24,993 million euros) of trade balance and an annual foreign direct investment that exceeds 2,590 million dollars (2,152 million euros).
Among the most outstanding infrastructure projects in the country to invest in, Abinader has highlighted the expansion of the Manzanillo port, which has an area of 600,000 square meters; the four-lane, 35-kilometer highway that will connect the regions of Ámbar and Puerto Plata; and the tourist development of the province of Pedernales, an extensive tourist complex with 3,000 rooms, virgin beaches and an international airport that seeks to revitalize the area.
According to the president, approximately 32 national and international companies have applied in the bids for the different projects with a “transparent” bidding plan.
As examples of recent investments, Norwegian will launch a departure point in the Caribbean country, an operation that will be repeated in the coming months with other cruise ships, according to Abinader. Likewise, actor Vin Diesel reached an agreement three weeks ago with the Dominican authorities to develop a film studio in the north of the country, thus turning the area into a reference point for tourism.
INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS.
Abinader has exposed the investment opportunities in the Dominican infrastructure networks, which include, among others, 8 airports, 12 cargo ports and 3 cruise ports, which will become 5 in the coming months.
In addition, the Dominican Republic is one of the few countries in Latin America that is bidding for 5G technology, which will contribute to greater competitiveness in production, according to the president.
The president has also highlighted the “attractive environment” for energy investment, which has an investment of 2,131 million dollars (1,770 million euros), and the real estate sector, in which the flows of direct foreign investment have grown to 3.8 billion dollars (3,157 million euros) between 2011 and 2020.
RECOVERY OF THE TOURIST SECTOR.
In March the Dominican Republic received 263,000 tourists, 56% more if compared to the previous month and 3.4% more compared to March 2020, while projections for April indicate that the country will receive close to 300,000 tourists.
Thus, the Dominican president has valued the tourist role of the region, one of his main assets, and has estimated that by the end of the year the country is expected to receive more than four million tourists.
