SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – CARIBBEAN Export Development Agency has received special recognition from Dominican exporters for its support to that group.

The Association of Exporters of the Dominican Republic (ADOEXPO) gave Caribbean Export an award for the “strong interest and constant support granted to the development and strengthening of the export sector of the Dominican Republic” during the celebration of its 40th anniversary last week.

“This award was made possible through the hard work of the agency’s staff as a whole and the support and guidance received from our board of directors, the Caricom secretariat, the Cariforum Directorate, the General Directorate for Multilateral Cooperation of the Dominican Republic and the European Union,” said Escipion Oliveira-Gómez, deputy executive director of the agency.

Oliveira-Gómez said the agency will continue to partner with ADOEXPO and the regional private sector as a whole with a view to supporting the development of the regional private sector in its quest for global competitiveness.

Caribbean Export provides grant funding to producers for a number of initiatives, including research and development, advisory services and quality and environment systems.

The Cariforum group of countries (Caricom and the Dominican Republic) concluded negotiations with the European Union (EU) in December 2007 for the historic Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which liberalised Europe’s markets for the region’s exports in goods and services.

The Dominican Republic has had relative success in penetrating the European market since the deal came into effect. Boosted by agricultural produce, the country has seen its exports grow significantly under the EPA to US$611.3 million in 2010.