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Free Trade Talks Between Dominican Republic and Canada Begin |
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Chief Trade Negotiator Julio Ortega Tous and Dominican Ambassador in Canada Eduardo Tejera revealed in a meeting with Foreign Ministrer Carlos Morales that negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement between Dominican and Canadian governments began yesterday, March 13. Originally scheduled for 2008 or 2009, it took the persuading of Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and International Trade Minister David Emerson by Dominican negotiators to get the timing moved up. This was confirmed by an official notice of the Canadian government on February 22 and is seen as a foreign policy success by Tejera. It is expected that the bilateral agreement will be concluded this year. The DR-CAFTA trade deal allows for the use of Canadian raw materials in the re-manufacture of products in the Dominican Republic. Tous stated that a free trade treaty with Canada “besides allowing us the entrance to the regulation of rules of origin with the United States, we are going to be a market of 34 million inhabitants, of very high spending power, very integrated to the global economy and, in particular, to the economy of North America.”
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