SANTO DOMINGO, 16 November 2022 - Diplomatic missions of the Dominican Republic pioneered the use of UNIDO’s Invest in ACP Platform for global investment promotion efforts by digitally showcasing the country’s investment opportunities to potential global investors. Investment opportunities and investment-related information available on the Invest in ACP Platform provides precision targeting of specific investors based on opportunity type, sector, source of investment markets and size.

UNIDO delivered two virtual capacity building session over two days from 15 - 16 November in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic (MIREX) and ProDominicana, attracting 36 trade and investment counsellors from 25 representative missions of the Dominican Republic across the globe. This capacity building activity formed part of MIREX’s ongoing staff capacity building and on-boarding process on investment promotion related matters, ‘Curso Capacitación Funcionarios Responsables de las Secciones Comerciales en el Servicio Exterior ’. 

The sessions included interventions by Hugo Rivera, Vice Minister of MIREX,  Escipion Oliviera Gomez, Assistant Secretary General, Sustainable Economic Transformation and Trade at the Secretariat of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), Luis Araque de Juan, First Counsellor and Head of the Trade Section of the European Union Delegation in the Dominican Republic, Patricia Céspedes, Programme Monitoring Manager of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development (MEPyD),  Maritza Bello, Director of the International Network of ProDominicana, and Stefan Kratzsch, Industrial Development Officer and Project Manager representing UNIDO.

"On behalf of the Government of the Dominican Republic, MEPyD is very satisfied that UNIDO, with the support of the European Union, is offering this training aimed at the diplomatic corps, which provides them with new tools to attract new foreign investment, taking advantage of the excellent conditions offered by the Dominican Republic, such as its economic and political stability and its proximity to the main markets of North America and Europe", said Patricia Céspedes, Programme Monitoring Manager of MEPyD.

Speaking on behalf of ProDominicana, Investment Executive Jenny Luthje noted, "These are a set of digital investment promotion tools that we needed and we were waiting for. It permits ProDominicana to be able to showcase investment opportunities in real time and enable us to be in touch with our representative missions across the globe and bring us closer to potential investors".

The activity is being implemented within the larger framework of the “ACP Business Friendly Programme: Supporting value chains through inclusive policies, investment promotion and alliances” funded by the European Union and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS). This pioneering experience gained by the diplomatic corps of the Dominican Republic will serve as a good practice for replication with the diplomatic missions of other ACP countries, further connecting and fostering learning across the three regions.   

Visit the ‘Invest-in-ACP’ Platform here: www.invest-in-acp.org

Watch impact stories of the “ACP Business-Friendly” (meso-level):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYpt5y638GLIGpvd4E83csQ

For further information contact: 

Stefan Kratzsch 

UNIDO Division of Fair Production, Sustainability Standards and Trade (IET/PST)

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