The Dominican Republic welcomes India’s current presidency of the G-20 with great optimism and enthusiasm, recognizing the country’s growing influence on the world stage. With India at the helm, there is a strong belief that the nation will exercise active leadership and leverage this opportunity to drive sustainable, inclusive, and equitable growth while addressing critical global challenges like climate change, food security, and digital transformation. These issues are particularly pertinent for developing countries, making India’s presidency all the more significant.
“India’s efforts to represent the voices of the Global South have been commendable. The virtual summit “Voices from the Global South,” convened earlier this year under India’s G-20 presidency, provided a shared platform for developing nations to discuss their concerns, interests, and priorities. The Dominican Republic expresses its appreciation for India’s commitment to championing the needs of developing countries,” says Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominican Republic, Roberto Alvarez.
In an exclusive interview, Minister Alvarez added: “The interest in Latin America and the Caribbean from India is evident, and the region welcomes this proactive engagement. Recognizing the importance of fostering strong bilateral relations, India has opened resident missions in the Dominican Republic and Paraguay, and Minister S Jaishankar’s visits to seven countries, including the Dominican Republic, have further strengthened ties. India’s engagement with regional blocs such as CELAC, SICA, and CARICOM highlights its dedication to understanding and addressing the unique challenges and opportunities in Latin America.”
Following are excerpts of an exclusive interaction with Financial Express Online:
What do you think is the relevance of external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar’s visit for the Dominican Republic?
If we consider that the frequency of visits by dignitaries, senior officials and delegations demonstrate the strength of bilateral ties, the visit to the Dominican Republic of Dr S. Jaishankar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of India, is of great importance, unique and constitutes a historical milestone in the framework of relations between the two countries.
It should be noted that this is the first time that an Indian Foreign Minister has visited our country, although it should be remembered that in the past we have been honored by the Indian Ministers of State for Foreign Affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh, Anand Sharma, Shashi Tharoor, VK Singh, and V. Muraleedharan.
The strengthening and consolidation of our bilateral ties have been an ascending process, which began when we formalized our diplomatic relations in 1999, which led to the decision of the government of the Dominican Republic to open our diplomatic mission in New Delhi in 2006. In January 2021, India announced the opening of its embassy in the Dominican Republic. On February 2, 2022, Ambassador Ramu Abbagani presented his credentials to President Luis Abinader, becoming the first resident ambassador of India in Santo Domingo.
The important visit of Dr S Jaishankar to our country, during which he exhausted a fruitful agenda, favored the deepening of our political dialogue; it contributed to promoting a more dynamic rapprochement between the productive sectors of both countries; It allowed us to visualize and identify new investment and trade opportunities, as well as new cooperation possibilities.
Along with the bilateral component of the visit, it is necessary to consider its regional dimension, given that during his visit minister Jaishankar also participated in the 4th SICA- India Ministerial Meeting, which took place in Panama, and in the 4th CARICOM-India Ministerial Meeting, in Guyana. Through these meetings, India had contact with the leaders of most of the Caribbean and Central American countries. The Dominican Republic, being the main economy of both regions and a hub that articulates the Caribbean with Central America and the rest of the continent, is a partner that India can count on to strengthen its presence in the Americas.
India’s diplomatic and economic leadership can be decisive in our region, as its position as an indispensable leader of the Third World and the Non-Aligned Movement serves as a balancing force amid major international tensions, capable of driving agendas, dialogue spaces, and consensus-building efforts.
In terms of trade and investment, what are the opportunities for Indian companies in the Dominican Republic?
The Dominican Republic offers many opportunities to be considered as an investment destination for Indian companies. Beginning with its location in the center of the Caribbean, it becomes a connection point between Europe, North America, and the rest of Latin America, offering preferential access to more than 1.2 billion consumers through free trade agreements with the United States, Central America through DR-CAFTA, and with the European Union through the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). In addition, it has a solid legal framework, incentives, economic, social, and political stability, human resources, and adequate infrastructure for international companies.
Regarding investments in the Dominican Republic, companies dedicated to the sectors of medical and pharmaceutical devices, household appliances, electronics, textile and clothing manufacturing, plastic articles, and software development can take advantage of Law No. 8- 90 regarding free zones.
Some highlights are:
The Dominican Republic is the third largest provider of pharmaceutical and medical devices in Latin America.
We have become the leading exporter of medical switches to the US market in 2020, with a share of 62.5 percent.
In the textile sector, the country has the availability of technology-intensive assembly, with the incorporation of new designs, research, and development of new activities, as well as the incorporation of added value to final products at competitive prices.
We also have a high population of bilingual youth and qualified personnel in information technology and software development areas.
Regarding the film industry, which is a very important sector for India, our country has managed to consolidate and strengthen its film industry through Law No. 108-10 for the Promotion of Film Activity in the Dominican Republic. In addition, the country has a great variety of landscapes that adapt to any type of audiovisual production, from imposing mountain ranges and powerful rivers to fertile valleys and arid expanses. Talking about other projects, whether public or private, investors in India can consider investing in the Free Zone Projects Corporation, industrial parks, the tourism sector, road and highway projects, Electronic Secured Transactions System, and digital medical record projects.
The Dominican Republic is presented as a logistics hub, located in the center of America. How can Indian companies take advantage of the geographical position and facilities offered by your country?
The Dominican Republic is the logistics center of the Americas. Our combination of tax benefits, market reach, and infrastructure has transformed the country into a leading logistics center in the region. With world-class transportation infrastructure in the LatAm region, according to the World Economic Forum, and a market reach of 900 million people, the Dominican Republic is the perfect place for expanding global companies to connect with the world. Given these advantages, the Dominican Republic’s value-added logistics industry sector has grown significantly, as has the number of logistics centers established on the island.
In this sense, our country represents the best multimodal offer in Latin America and the best interconnection between the logistics nodes of the same region, providing advantages to Indian companies through:
The creation of logistics parks to facilitate services such as storage, deconsolidation, packaging, re-packaging, labeling, re-labeling, distribution, and re-export of merchandise.
Local tax laws and regulations create an environment that eases the burden of global trade.
Our award-winning transportation infrastructure network consists of 8 international airports, 18 ports, 15 terminals, and 4 anchorages. Considering the 23 direct and transshipment weekly departure options to the west coast of the United States, 19 to Mexico and Central America, 20 to the Caribbean islands, 5 to eastern South America, 5 to western South America, 7 to Europe, and 8 to the Far East.
The Dominican Republic receives approximately 90 weekly vessels and more than 270 daily flights.
In addition, the 5 dominican flag airlines fly directly to 24 destinations in the region in 18 countries, highlighting that we have flight frequencies to more than 150 destinations.
Highways that connect the entire country in less than 4 hours.
We offer the dispatch of containers in 24 hours (D24H) and new technologies for non- intrusive inspections (X-rays), which allows agility in the merchandise verification process at the customs level.
What kind of synergies and cooperation between India and the Dominican Republic do you envision, especially within the pharmaceutical sector?
In the field of health, we recognize the important contribution of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, with the development of quality vaccines and medicines at an affordable price. As a country, the Dominican Republic offers interesting proposals to Indian companies in the pharmaceutical sector, whether to invest and produce in our country or make use of the logistics infrastructure developed around our ports. In both cases, the Dominican Republic presents itself as a key partner for the Indian industry in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
The increase in trade in the pharmaceutical field between the Dominican Republic and India also raises the need for greater collaboration between the drug regulatory agencies of our countries. Our regulatory agency, the General Directorate of Medicines, Food and Health Products of the Dominican Republic (DIGEMAPS), and the Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) of India have negotiated and agreed on an agreement that promotes understanding mutual regulatory frameworks, exchange of good practices in both laboratories, clinics, and pharmacovigilance, capacity building, and recognition of the Indian pharmacopeia, among other topics. The signing of this agreement, which we hope will take place very soon, will provide more fluidity and security to the trade of medicines between India and the Dominican Republic.
What are the perspectives in relation to ICTs, Artificial Intelligence, Space Sciences, and Biotechnologies?
The main areas of cooperation addressed during the visit were trade and investment, pharmaceuticals, climate change, renewable energy and infrastructure resilience, defense, higher education, information technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, marine sciences, aerospace, and culture.
India’s techno-scientific development, backed by world-renowned institutions, is a model of success and a source of inspiration. In this sense, we understand that cooperation in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Space Science, Information Technology, and Biotechnology between the Dominican Republic and India promises great opportunities for our country. The Dominican Republic can benefit significantly in these fields from India’s experience through knowledge and technology transfer.
Regarding ICTs, we have agreed to expand access to training specifically for Dominican nationals through ITEC. During the visit to India of the executive director of the Innovation Cabinet of the Dominican Republic, Bartolomé Pujals, last March, the areas of cybersecurity, big data and software development were identified as priorities for the training of Dominican professionals in India.
Currently, the Dominican government has just announced that it will have its own National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy. India is expected to help strengthen this initiative through training programs and technical advice. Last April, a first technical exchange was held between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India and members of the Dominican Government Office of Information and Communication Technologies (OGTIC) team, to assess how India can help complement the development of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of the Dominican Republic. Based on these exchanges, we hope to be able to build a concrete cooperation program in Artificial Intelligence.