United States Opening Statement
Ambassador Linnet F. Deily

October 7, 2002

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The United States welcomes the delegation from Santo Domingo here for the Dominican Republic's WTO Trade Policy Review. We also warmly welcome the Dominican Republic's new ambassador to the WTO, the Honorable Rubin Nunez. We look forward to working with you towards meeting the January 2005 deadline for completing the WTO negotiations.

We appreciate the work of the WTO Secretariat in producing its report on the D.R.'s trade policy regime, the discussant for his insightful and provocative comments, and we welcome the report prepared by the Government of the Dominican Republic. We have prepared some questions based on these reports, and we look forward to receiving the D.R.'s answers and learning more about its trade policies and practices.

Our trade relationship takes place within the broader context of excellent cooperation between our countries on a variety of matters of mutual interest, including on-going security and counter-narcotics efforts. We also commend the D.R. for its strong stance against abusive and exploitative child labor through its close collaboration with the ILO, and for its leadership in the fight against international crime and terrorism.

Trade between the United States and the Dominican Republic is a cornerstone of our bilateral relations and generates important benefits for both countries. The D.R. is our largest trading partner in the Caribbean Basin region with $8.6 billion in two-way goods trade during 2001. The D.R. also continues to be the leading user of benefits under our Caribbean Basin Initiative preferences program.

The questions we will submit under the D.R.'s trade policy review focus principally on the following areas:

· the D.R.'s policies on foreign investment;
· foreign participation in the provision of mining and energy services;
· the status of ratification of the D.R.'s 1997 financial services commitments;
· operation of the D.R.'s free trade zones; and
· recent developments in the telecommunications sector.

We are impressed by the progress the DR has made in its economic reforms since the 1996 TPR. The Dominican Republic has experienced remarkable economic growth, increased investment, and the dynamism characteristic of a maturing economy. We are also struck by the significance of a growing and competitive services sector, which has been leading job creation in the D.R.

The United States commends the D.R. on recent liberalization in its services trade regime and encourages the D.R. to schedule commitments that reflect these policy changes, in the interest of transparency.

We have concerns about the D.R.'s IPR regime, especially the patent law and IPR enforcement. We would also like to register our concern about the WTO-consistency of the D.R.'s excise tax on spirits and would appreciate an update on plans to revise the tax structure.

In addition, we have a number of concerns related to Free Trade Zones. Though they are central to the DR's trade strategy, some aspects of their operation are not yet WTO consistent, and we will be interested to discuss this in further detail. We are also concerned that the economic reforms the DR has undertaken in the past several years, have not adequately addressed the sectoral divergences between FTZs and the domestic economy that were noted in the 1996 TPR. Some of our concerns also pertain to labor rights in the FTZs.

Our questions and comments are offered in a constructive spirit. We thank the delegation from the Dominican Republic in advance for its willingness to consider these points and welcome the opportunity to engage with the D.R. and other delegations in a discussion of the D.R.'s current trade policy regime. Thank you.