The 1st National Forum for the Full Development of Meta RD 2036 begins

The meeting brings together national and international experts to address actions aimed at doubling economic growth

Santo Domingo.– The Dominican Government launched this Tuesday the 1st National Forum for the Full Development of Meta RD 2036, a dialogue space that brings together representatives from the public and private sectors, academia, international organizations, and national and international experts to discuss the reforms and actions necessary to double the real size of the Dominican economy by the year 2036.

The activity, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Convention Center (MIREX), is part of the Meta RD 2036 national strategy, created through Decree 337-24, which aims to boost the country’s productive transformation and consolidate its economic and social development.

During the opening, the Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, highlighted that the goal of doubling the Dominican economy is “ambitious, but possible,” noting that the country has maintained an economic growth rate of over 5% annually for the last three decades.

“The country has set the goal of doubling the size of its economy by the year 2036. It is an ambitious goal, but possible, because we have shown as a country that it is possible. In the last 30 years, we have grown by over 5% per year, and 14 of those years by over 6%,” he expressed.

Paliza explained that the forum seeks to identify both the accelerators and the obstacles that could influence the fulfillment of the strategy.

“We are developing all the dynamics that will allow us to identify accelerators and also the brakes that could prevent the Dominican economy from continuing to give the signals it has traditionally given,” he stated.

The minister expressed his confidence that the proposals arising from the meeting will contribute to strengthening the roadmap towards national development.

The Meta RD 2036 strategy proposes raising the per capita income from approximately US$11,000 in 2024 to more than US$22,000 in 2036, supported by an average economic growth of nearly 6% per year. Furthermore, it contemplates the creation of 1.7 million new jobs, the elimination of extreme poverty, and the strengthening of productivity, innovation, human capital, and institutional quality.

Participating in the opening of the forum, in addition to José Ignacio Paliza, were the Minister of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs, Víctor “Ito” Bisonó; the Minister of Energy and Mines, Joel Santos; the Executive Vice President of the Unified Council of Electricity Distribution Companies (CUED), Celso Juan Marranzini; the Dean and Professor of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics, Andrés Velasco; the Regional Manager of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Tomás Bermúdez; the IDB Regional Economist, Óscar Valencia; the IDB Resident Representative, Nathalie Alvarado; the President of the Economic and Social Council (CES), Rafael Toribio; and the President of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), Julio Brache.

For the closing scheduled for the afternoon, the presence of the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, is expected.