Press Availability: Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, Presidential Palace Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 4, 2006
Secretary of Industry and Commerce Francisco Javier Garcia introduced the
Deputy Secretary. (English translation inaudible.)
Deputy Secretary Zoellick:
First I want to thank the Minister for his very generous introduction. I’m
very delighted to be back in the Dominican Republic. I have very warm
feelings towards the country. As the Minister mentioned, I was very proud to
be involved with the launching and completion of our free trade agreement.
And I was very delighted to have an opportunity to meet again with President
Fernandez.
I first met the President when he was in opposition during the
administration of President Mejia. And I was very impressed at that time
that as we were exploring the free trade agreement, that President Fernandez
saw the big picture strategic interest of the Dominican Republic. And then
after we completed the agreement and needed to win the support of our
Congress, the President was kind enough to come to the United States and
help us make the case for the agreement, which we then passed. And that’s
just an example of the very close ties between our two countries, ties of
which we are very proud.
So today we talked about some of the steps that still need to be taken to
implement the agreement so that it can come into effect, we hope very soon.
Since I now am the Deputy Secretary of State and not the U.S. Trade
Representative, it’s the responsibility of my colleagues, but I spoke to
them before I came down and I will of course report back to them.
Of course the primary reason of my visit is the fact that the Dominican
Republic is hosting the Organization of American States General Assembly
meeting. So I want to thank the people of the Dominican Republic for their
very warm hospitality for this OAS meeting. And also for the very excellent
arrangements of which we’ve already been able to partake of, which I know
took a lot of work for many people. So we began that session with an
informal discussion among the ministers; we have an event this evening, and
we will then continue with the formal events tomorrow.
So I’m very delighted that President Fernandez could take the time to meet
with me this evening. And in addition to talking about our free trade
agreement, I was interested in learning more about the successful growth of
the Dominican economy and getting his advice on some regional issues because
he’s offered us a lot of wisdom. He’s a very good friend of my country, and
I’m very proud that I consider him a friend personally.
I have an event to go to but I have time for a couple of questions.
Question. Jonathan Katz with AP. Will the United States be launching any
formal complaints against Venezuela specifically alleging that Venezuela has
interfered in the elections going on today in Peru?
Deputy Secretary Zoellick:
What is interesting, what I heard today is affirmation of the reports you’ve
been getting from Latin America over the past weeks and months. And what I
mean specifically is that it is encouraging that the democracies of Latin
America that feel that Venezuela has been infringing on their own democratic
process are speaking up on their own. And this is not only Peru, but it was
Nicaragua and others.
There is a procedure in the OAS which Peru requested for discussion in the
general council. And I think this is part of a larger development. You might
have seen that Venezuela recently suggested a cut in OPEC oil production,
which would have only increased oil prices for many of the poorer people in
developing countries in Latin America. From what I’ve heard so far, that
wasn’t so popular in the region. And it’s also encouraging that the OPEC
countries themselves refused the idea.
So part of what this OAS session is about is that the OAS and the
Inter-American Development Bank working together can help create the
foundation for democracy and development in this region so the countries in
Latin America can stick up for themselves. So my main message has been how
we want to try to support the OAS and the IDB and other countries as they
take the difficult steps of building the institutions of democracy.
And as my comments today and my comments tomorrow will emphasize, we realize
that this also requires broadening the base of development. Because as you
open up the political process as has happened throughout much of Latin
America, you’re bringing in groups of people, indigenous, impoverished
people that frankly were shut out for centuries. So we need some economic
policies that also give them some chance for social development and
opportunity and hope. And so that’s what connects with some of the things
that I was just talking about related to free trade agreements but also the
Millennium Challenge Account, our other AID programs and also some perhaps
innovations from the IDB.
Question (translation) Diario Libre: You just said that you spoke to the
President about the steps that are remaining to finish everything that needs
to be done for implementation of the agreement. I would like to know what
steps were identified and what did you talk about the need of extending the
deadline for entry into force?
Deputy Secretary Zoellick:
As for your second question, on the entry into force, we have worked with
all the countries that are part of the CAFTA-DR free trade agreement on
their own timing to try to meet the customized needs of implementation.
And it’s partly worth emphasizing because issues we’re working out with the
Dominican Republic are similar to issues we’ve had to work out with other
countries. It’s a natural part of the implementation process. And they tend
to be somewhat technical issues about passing legislation or implementing
regulations that will implement the free trade agreement obligations.
And for example they include some issues with dealing with the government
procurement rules, and that means their obligations in the agreement that
governments will give equal opportunity to U.S. or Dominican companies to be
able to sell to their respective governments. There are some issues related
to dealer protection laws, which are some ways that restrain business
dealings and this was true throughout Central America as well. And there are
a couple of intellectual property topics. And there may be some other more
minor subjects in agriculture and a couple of other topics, but there’s a
rather limited set that we need to work through.
So as someone who was interested in trying to give birth to this free trade
agreement, I’m obviously impatient to get it done, but it’s not surprising
it takes a little time. But what the President and I talked about with the
Minister and the Ambassadors is the big picture. My main interest in
implementing the free trade agreement is to help strengthen the Dominican
Republic’s ability to sell to the United States because I want to help
expand opportunity and prosperity in the Dominican Republic. Obviously we
want to sell goods in the Dominican Republic as well, but we’re a little
bigger economy so I want to try and make sure we get this going to help
sustain and strengthen the President’s development policies.
I’m doing a little press thing tomorrow so I can take some more questions
tomorrow, but I have to go on to the event tonight. Gracias.
|
