The Dominican Free Zone system has always been especially attractive for investors for the advantages that it offers, such as: • Incentives that exempt companies from the payment of taxes; • Preferential access to export to the United States and European markets without the need of pay- ment of customs tariffs;
• The possibility of obtaining financing from local and foreign institutions; and, • Availability of capable workforce
Dominican law seeks to promote the establishment of free zones and the growth of those in existence. The law creates the National Free Zones Council (CNZF), an organization that is in charge of regulating and super- vising free zones; defines and classifies free zones; indicates the requirements for their installation and the applicable incentives; and regulates their sales at the local market, if they chose to do so. A special development zone near the Haitian border has been created by Dominican law, establishing a pref- erential system that, subject to specific limitations, grants extensive fiscal incentives and exemptions for com- panies that establish their operations within the area and comply with the requirements provided by this law.
TOURISM
Because of the country’s natural resources, its climate, its cultural diversity and historical interest along with its accessibility and political stability, the Dominican Republic is at present the island with the greatest tour- ist interest in the Caribbean. The tourism industry began to grow in the 1970s, mainly because of government initiatives. Since the 1980s, the tourism industry began to include larger private investment. Today, tourism is one of the pillars of the Do- minican economy. The tourism industry is supervised by the Tourism Ministry, which has offices in different parts of the world as well as in the Dominican Republic. The government continues to promote both the development of several tourist areas in the country and private investment in the tourism industry in all of it varieties such as ecotourism, health and leisure.
AGRICULTURE Traditionally, the Dominican Republic has been an agricultural country. It is the largest exporter of agricultural