The List of Cooperation Agreements
Between the DR and ROK by Amb. Hector Galvan Suzana
The Embassy of Dominican Republic in Seoul
Amb. Hector Galvan Suzana
All sorts of information would become available to the public, and several public services could be accessed by citizens without leaving their homes or offices, just by accessing the digital networks through their computers. It is the main purpose of the agreement signed between the Korea Industrial Promotion Agency and the Dominican Republic's Presidential Office for Information and Communications Technologies, which will allow the installation of Digital Documentation Systems in the Dominican Republic (DR). This is one of the latest agreements sealed during the last four years through the mediation of the Dominican Embassy in Seoul. During President Leonel Fernandez's visit to the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 2006, the signature of six agreements in different areas was achieved. One of these bilateral instruments was signed between Mr. Carlos Morales Troncoso, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the DR, and then ROK Vice Minister Yu Myung-hwan, before their respective heads of state at Cheong Wa Dae. This pact guarantees the promotion and protection of investments for both parties, and provides businessmen from both countries an adequate environment, as well as an equitable and fair treatment. Another bilateral agreement is the one related to the loans from the Economic Cooperation Development Fund, through which the Korean government offers loans to the Dominican government for the implementation of development projects, through the EXIMBANK of Korea. In August of 2007, during President Fernandez's official visit in 2006, Minister Eddy Martinez, executive director of the Center for Export and Investment of the Dominican Republic (CEI-RD) and President of the Santo Domingo Cyber Park, signed several bilateral instruments and MOUs with Korean entities, including one with the Korea Food Research Institute, for the development of a modern quality control system for exportable products and daily consumption items, and another one between the Korea International Trade Association and the CEI-RD that allows the increase of Korean investment in the DR. One more instrument was subscribed with the Korea Importers Association, which opens the possibilities for an active exchange between Korean importers and Dominican exporters to increase the volume of Dominican products in the Korean market. Minister Eddy Martinez also signed an accord with the Korea Bio-Venture Association, represented by its president Mr. Park Jong-sei, which provides incentives and benefits to Korean biotechnological enterprises willing do business and invest and in our country. The other was also signed by the President of the Santo Domingo Cyber Park and the president of the Korea Institute for Science and Technology, with the aim to promote the implementation of technologies applied to the industry and information. In late 2007, the ROK and the DR undersigned an instrument which allows the exchange of technical knowledge and experience in the implementation of egovernment. The pact was signed by Mr.Domingo Tavarez, OPTIC's Executive Director and Mr. Kim Dong-soo Kim, Vice minister of Information and Communications of the ROK. More than 60 Dominican educators have visited South Korea as part of the accord between our Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources Development of Korea and the Korea Education & Research Information Service (KERIS), in order to receive training en e-learning. In this sense, we can also refer to the agreement signed between the Rectors of the National University of Santo Domingo and Hankuk University for Foreign Studies, for the exchange of professors and students, as well as that signed between the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the DR and Andong University allowing Dominican students to benefit from the academy's scholarship program. Our Ministry for Women Affairs signed an agreement with the Korean government to receive financial support to carry out a project approved by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), for the implementation of teenage pregnancy prevention program in the DR. As part of this project, last week 13 female officials from the DR received special training provided by the Korea Women Development Institute, first program of this type for any Latin American country. The Dominican Customs Authority signed agreements with Korea's EXIMBANK to receive US$23 million for the modernization of our country's customs, reducing dramatically the cost and time of merchandise withdrawal from ports and airports, which will allow to export that service to other countries in the region. The Dominican Institute of Telecommunications signed an agreement with the Ministry of Information and Communication of Korea, aimed at the development of the information technology in our country. The "Global Foundation" also reached an agreement with the KDI to carry out events and research which will enable our institutions to profit from the Korean experience in economic development, and the Boards of Audit and Inspection of Korea and the DR developed a mechanism to cooperate by sharing experiences and technology. Last October, during the visit of a high level delegation headed by the Dominican Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, a Knowledge Sharing Program agreement was signed between the Korea Development Institute and the Center for Export and Investment of the DR (CEI-RD), which provided the DR with an export promotion strategy, based upon the Korean experience in this field. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance, sponsoring organization of this KSP, selected the DR as a "Development Partnership Country" for 2008. Also in October, the Korea EXIMBANK and the Dominican "Banco de Reservas," agreed to establish a 30-million-dollar-line of credit for Dominican entrepreneurs wishing to carry out business initiatives using Korean technology. On Dec. 27, 2008, we observed the fourth anniversary of the presentation of my letters of credentials, and after having reached the mark of 20 cooperation agreements; we are able to verify a tangible enhancement of the bilateral relationship between our countries in these four years. This retrospective view offers a great opportunity, especially on this 165th anniversary of the Dominican Independence, not only to evaluate current achievements, but to assess what should be done in order to increase and expand the cooperation ties between the ROK and the DR in the near future.
