On July 16 the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce met with ProDominicana, the government entity by the Dominican Republic in charge of promote, improve, and assist importers and exporters in the Dominican Republic. Our takeaway was very clear, it is a great time to invest in the Dominican Republic for the following reasons:

• At a higher lever the Dominican Republic has had a smashing success in making its tourism industry a success and engine for the Dominican economy. Since the 1990s the Dominican Republic has been investing in infrastructure and most important a legla framework that allows hotels to build all-inclusive facilities away from the city, relieving the Domican government from having to build infrastructure for tourist at the expense of its taxpayers. The Dominican Republic is now applying lessons learned in the tourism sector into other sectors such as cinematography, agriculture, and manufacture.
• The Dominican Republic has been investing in world-class ports and shipping facilities and most importantly doing it the smart way by partnering with private company Dubai Port Authority, one of the most experienced and cutting edge firm when it comes to managing ports.

• We left with the impression that the Dominican Republic is open for business and keeping an open mind about their capabilities (not obsessing about a particular industry and diversifying its economy) which is a very smart strategy in the long run. We were very surprised to find out that the Dominican Republic is number one exported of pineapple to Israel, number 3 in bananas to the United Kingdom, and third cocoa exporter to the European Union. We have always keenly aware of the high quality of rum and cigars.

We love when we see any of our Latin American friends thriving. The US is home to a very talented group of women entrepreneurs from the Dominican Republic who for some reason or another left the island and are fully bilingual, keenly aware of both cultures, highly educated, and highly motivated. We urge anyone from the Dominican Republic to ask themselves “how can I use my skills and business to grown with the Dominican Republic?”