Last month, Danilo Medina, the President of the Dominican Republic, made clear that it was time to reset his country’s foreign policy to better reflect its development objectives and the process of change and modernisation now underway.
His views reflect the fact that the Dominican economy is growing rapidly, its sophisticated and increasingly outward looking private sector is seeking a bigger role in the Americas and beyond, and the country is strengthening its relationships with those of its regional neighbours that see value in doing so and in particular, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas and Trinidad.
In this respect, recently released economic growth figures demonstrate the changing nature of the country and its business community. Central Bank statistics show annual GDP growth for 2014 at an all time recent high of 7.4 per cent; building on growth in the years immediately prior. The nation’s investment rating was upgraded late last year by the