do business in the Dominican Republic - Pellerano & Herrera

DOING BUSINESS INTHE DOMINICAN REPUBLICthe creation of incentives, the granting of internal aid and the development ofcompetition in the field of exports.The tax and customs reforms of the year 2000 established incentives for the agriculturalsector, by exempting prime materials and inputs from the payment ofduties and other taxes.This will help to reduce the costs of the sector and thusincrease their ability to compete in international markets, and to face the upcomingexternal competition resulting from the entry into force of the free tradeagreements signed with CARICOM and Central America.Furthermore, in the year 2001 the Ministry of Agriculture established a Programof Reactivation of the Agricultural Sector, which includes incentives such as thedistribution of crop materials, repair of roads and irrigation channels, increase insources of financing and guarantee of sale of products.In addition,we should note that the sector of traditional exports was freed in thatyear from the obligation to exchange foreign currency through the Central Bank,which was a factor that increased export costs.In 2004 the Dominican Republic signed a Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)with Central America and the United States, which is pending Congress ratificationin both countries regarding this last one. Its entry into force will certainlyhave important implications on the national agricultural production and its marketingabroad.4MINING66OVERVIEW AND PERSPECTIVESMining is an important activity in the Dominican Republic. The main mineralsfound in the country are gold,silver,nickel,marble,limestone and granite.The significanceof the mineral resources of the country makes this one of the mostinterest sectors of investment, and the Government is currently carrying out severalprograms to promote foreign investment in this sector.In this regard, the Government created the Corporative Mining Unit, with themission to follow up and serve as operational collaborator in all the mining projectsin which the Dominican government is a participant, and to ensure that privateinvestments in the mining sector are clear, credible and guaranteed, therebyproviding a solid foundation for the reactivation of commercial mining activity.Mining activities had dropped considerable at the end of the 80's, but during the90's the sector started to recover after receiving flows of foreign capital, reachingin 1994 a growth rate of 88.2%.There are currently close to 35 mining companiesin the country, which are mainly working on the extraction of marble,limestone, nickel, salt and plaster.During the last years, there has been no gold and silver production due to theclosing down of the operations of Rosario Dominicana. Indeed, gold and silverexploitation had been largely concentrated in the hands of that State owned company,whichoperated the “Pueblo Viejo”gold and silver mine located in the Cibao