AGREEMENT WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION The Lomé and Cotonou agreements are two very important tools for the collaboration between the European Union and the Dominican Republic, as part of the ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific). These agree- ments have promoted and increased economic, social, and cultural development, and have established and diversified international relationships. Under this system Dominican exports to the European Union, including tobacco, textiles, bananas, pineapples, coffee, rum, and oranges, have increased. Recently, the Dominican Republic signed an Agreement for the Economic Association between the countries of the CARIFORUM and the European Union and its member states. The spirit of this agreement is to rein- force commercial relations and promote regional integration and cooperation within an effective legal frame- work for commerce and investment.
REGIONAL ALLIANCES The Dominican Republic is leading the efforts to promote the commercial integration of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Within this context, the Dominican Republic’s Executive Power created in 1997 the National Commission for Commercial Negotiations, with the goal of reaching bilateral or multilateral trade agreements in the most efficient and beneficial way possible for the Dominican Republic. This Commission appointed a negotiating team that has been handling this process with the other nations in the region. The Dominican position has been to form a strategic alliance with the countries of Central America and CARI- COM – the geographical region closest to the Dominican Republic. This would enable the Dominican Republic to broaden the market and the export capacity of these countries and to create a block of nations to negoti- ate with other countries in the hemisphere. The Dominican Republic already has signed an International Commerce Treaty with Central America, another similar agreement with the Caribbean Community or CARICOM, and a Commercial Treaty with Limited Scope with the Republic of Panama. In addition, it has signed bilateral trade treaties with several other countries in the world. With the CARICOM, the Dominican Republic shares in the Forum for ACP Countries in the Carib- bean. With Central America, CARICOM, the Dominican Republic, and several other nations form a part of the Caribbean States Association (AEC). All of these developments take place within the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO), of which the Dominican Republic has been a member since the 1994 Marrakech Agreement.