President Fernandez Reaffirms His Commitment to Work with Dominican Diaspora in US

President Fernandez participated in the videoconference titled "Creating Business Opportunities between the Hispanic and Caribbean population in the U.S. and their countries of origin" coordinated by the Young Americas Business Trust YABT) and the Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI) of the Organization of American States (OAS). The event was facilitated by GFDD and with the technical support of GDLN.

(In his remarks, President Fernandez described the strategy being implemented by his administration to involve Dominican communities particularly from Florida and New York in the policy making process in the Dominican Republic . President Fernandez substantiated his commitment to this endeavour with the creation of task forces and executive
consultative boards in Miami and in New York, as well as the development of various reports focusing on the relations between the diaspora and the Dominican Republic, both aiming at providing the basis for the development of an informed strategy to reach out to these communities.

Additionally, the videoconference counted with the participation of Ms. Lenora Suki from the Earth Institute from Columbia University . Ms. Suki
stressed the importance of promoting the diaspora investment in their country of origin. She highlighted several recommendations extracted from the report on the competitiveness of the Dominican Republic developed by the Earth Institute in collaboration with FUNGLODE. The videoconference also included various panelist from other institutions from the participating countries.

The videoconference was broadcast from FUNGLODE
in Santo Domingo with high and lively participation of different representatives from the economic and production sectors and included links with Argentina , Barbados , Ecuador , Peru , Dominican Republic and Washington DC . The event included the participation of high level officials from public and private sectors and civil society working in the areas of business development and entrepreneurship .

This activity results
from the agreements of collaboration that FUNGLODE/GFDD have with YABT, GDLN, and the Earth Institute.