Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR ISOBEL COLEMAN: Good afternoon.
I want to thank our hosts for the opportunity to be here today.
Minister [Victor] Bisonó and Minister [Pavel] Isa – you and your colleagues have warmly welcomed us, and I am so glad to be in Santo Domingo among so many partners committed to inclusive, sustainable growth and development.
The United States and the Dominican Republic have enjoyed decades of friendship and partnership, strengthened by the ties of millions of men and women who call both our countries home.
While in recent years, too many governments around the world have taken steps backward, away from the rule of law and other fundamental democratic principles, the Dominican Republic is demonstrating the power of accountable, democratic institutions.
You are taking steps as a nation that are essential to broad-based economic growth.
You are strengthening transparency, cutting red tape, and investing in critical infrastructure.
And you are seizing this moment to grow partnerships built on cooperation, innovation, and the individual promise of every Dominican.
Bringing the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, or GATF, here to the Dominican Republic, is yet another step to greater opportunity and prosperity.
We, at USAID, are proud to have established the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation back in 2015 with our German and Canadian partners. It’s great to have Ambassador [Maike] Friedrichsen of Germany and Ambassador [Jacqueline] DeLima of Canada here with us today.
It serves as USAID’s flagship effort for implementing trade facilitation reforms.
And it is no accident that we are launching this new GATF activity here in the Dominican Republic.
We know that for democracy to thrive it has to deliver, so we are expanding our efforts to enable greater private sector investment and boost economic opportunities for small-, medium-, and women-owned enterprises; to empower them to grow with the economy; and to boost competitiveness and create jobs.
For many business owners and entrepreneurs – they are reading about nearshoring – but global markets and profits can feel out of reach.
International trade is too often viewed as the domain of large corporations.
But we are facing a paradigm shift, where small-, medium-, and women-led businesses can be powerful drivers of trade and economic growth – if they have the capacity to navigate bureaucratic and resource constraints.
By helping small-, medium-, and women-owned enterprises overcome barriers to trade, leveraging e-commerce and the Dominican Republic’s Free Trade Zones, the effort we’re launching today will not only help Dominican businesses participate more robustly in their country’s economic growth, but also integrate into global value chains.
With today’s announcement, and the work that our partners will do to facilitate access to finance and to build capacity, entrepreneurs and communities across the country will benefit from all of the other work you’re doing to grow the economy.
A little over a year ago, we launched USAID’s Democracy Delivers Initiative with the recognition that good governance and inclusive development go hand-in-hand, and with the conviction that we can strengthen both democracy and development by helping reformers attract investment, expand economic opportunity, and deliver the security and dignity people deserve.
This is why we are here today in Santo Domingo, to launch this important effort with the GATF and our Dominican partners, and to take another meaningful step toward a future of greater opportunity and inclusion.
The United States is proud to support this transformational work, to deepen the partnership between our two countries, and to create more opportunities for the Dominican people.
Thank you.