SECTUR’s Promotion of Investments and Development Department Draws Up Strategic Plan for 2009-2010

Promotion of the Dominican Republic as a particularly optimum destination for tourism investment and to guarantee major international cooperation in benefit of the competitive sector are the two strategic goals of SECTUR’s Promotion of Investments and Development Department.

Other priority initiatives of the Department include becoming constituted as an entity of support or guidance for local business people in the fairs or other international events…

According to Manuel Pacheco, Director of the new department, a series of joint actions were carried out within the framework of the Strategic Plan for 2009/2010. These included the celebration of an annual tourism real estate fair; the creation of the first Investment Guide book oriented toward the tourism sector which proved to be a useful tool for profiling investment projects; and the creation of a Tourism Products and Resources Inventory List, according to the Office of Press and Communications of the Ministry of Tourism (SECTUR).

Other priority initiatives of the Department include becoming constituted as an entity of support or guidance for local business people in the fairs or other international events and to combine efforts with the rest of the public institutions linked in some way with promotion and attracting investments.

SECTUR, with this emerging entity, explained Pacheco, is making available its public face among the international community, “in such a way that the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank), the World Bank, USAID (US Agency for International Development), JICA (Japan) and other international and bilateral cooperation organizations will see this new Department as a valid interlocutor with which to develop projects that benefit Dominican tourism.

First Step: Integration with the Public and Private Sectors

Pacheco stressed that the first institutional action taken by the Department was to establish contact, through mail, with the heads of some 15 ministries and offices directly or indirectly linked to the attracting investments, such as the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Economy and Planning, the Finance Ministry, the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD), among others. The new Department has also established communication with the Dominican Association of Tourism Real Estate Companies (ADETI), the National Association of Hotel and Restaurants (ASONAHORES) and with multilateral finance organizations.

“The idea,” explained Pacheco, “is to work jointly with all these organizations so that when they have available funds for development in the country, they will look to the tourism sector as an investment possibility.” He noted that development of the tourism sector has become an excellent weapon in the war on poverty.

Another aspect of the 2009-2010 Strategic Plan referred to by Mr. Pacheco is the elaboration of “profiles” for special projects that can attract the interest of foreign and national capital.

He stressed that the Investors Guide contains details about the benefits of investing in the DR (socio-economic stability, safety and security, high profit indexes) as well as support from SECTUR to help investors realize their projects.

In terms of the Tourism Products and Resources Inventory List, he indicated that it will include a promotional video with photographic support as well as descriptive information on each area, attraction and product in the DR to be made available on Internet and compact disk.

Pacheco, an economist with an MBA from Quebec (Montreal) University, has more than 20 years of experience, 9 of them with SECTUR. He accepted the post of this new Department from Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García. He pointed out that the new Department will play an important role with the Offices of Tourism Promotion (OPT) abroad.

“We have 18 OPT offices which present excellent means for reaching investors,” he said. “Indeed many investors frequently visit these offices in search of information on our country,” he added.

Pacheco urged “investors and developers to keep in mind that the doors of the Ministry of Tourism are open to support them in every step of the investment process, and facilitating the necessary paperwork.”

The creation of the Promotion of Investments and Development Department by Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García was a response “to a pertinent interpretation of the guidelines laid out by Dominican President Leonel Fernández Reyna to strengthen the capacity of the country at this important juncture, in this ever-changing international atmosphere,” said Minister Francisco Javier García.

Manuel Pacheco, Director of the new Investments and Development Department is giving a presentation to the board of directors of Dominican Association of Tourism Real Estate Companies (ADETI).