The Threat to World Economy and Non- Oil Producing Countries: Dominican Republic: Challenges and Opportunities
Washington D. C., USA, September 19th, 2006

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (GFDD/FUNGLODE), as part of the events of Dominican Week in USA, organized a panel on “The Threat to World Economy and Non- Oil Producing Countries: Dominican Republic: Challenges and Opportunities”, where the main theme was the saving of energy and a wider diversification of the sources that generate energy.

This event was celebrated in the offices of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington D. C. The panel was composed of various members of the Energy Sector of the Dominican Republic and members of the Organization of American States.

The first panelist was Mark Lambrides, Coordinator of the Initiative for Renewable Energy in the Americas.  Mr. Lambrides spoke about the threats for the environment that the current energy structures impose the high cost of gas bills and the problems in the sugar cane industry as an element that must be taken into consideration to justify the need to continue for the renewable energy path.

The following panelist was Aristides Fernandez Zucco, President of the National Commission for Energy (CNE for its Spanish name). After referring to the steps taken for the approval of the Renewable Energy Law, he mentioned the work that is being done to establish a General Law for Energy.  He also spoke about high prices for oil, even though there haven been sporadic price cuts and the news of new oil deposits in Mexico, Venezuela and the United States. He said that “nevertheless, within the industry standards, the time required for the development of these new findings presents us with a plan execution calendar that goes beyond five years”.

The third panelist of the table was Francisco Mendez, Superintendent of Energy of the Dominican Republic. During his presentation, he spoke about various events that have affected the price hike throughout history and the tendency initiated 77 months ago will continue to grow because of the insufficiency to satisfy the demand.

After the panelists from the public sector were finished, there were three panelists from the private sector that presented the views on the topic from that other view. These panelists were: Manuel Perez Dubuc, President of AES Dominicana; Pastor Sanjurjo: General Manager of EGEHaina; and Roberto Herrera: General Manager of Electrical Company of San Pedro de Macoris.   They explained the reason as to why the energy generating companies.  They also stated how the price hike in fuel has affected their performance as energy generators. Some stated that the best solution is the conversion to natural gas plants.

The panel ended with a questions and answers portion that was moderated by Luis Heredia Bonetti, president of Dominican Week in USA.