SANTO DOMINGO.- Dominican Republic faces the challenges posed by the stark global crisis in the short term, but in the long and medium term it also has the opportunity to advance its development by inserting itself in the “radical wave of transformations” he said is taking place around the world.

The chief executive, speaking in the opening of the “Summit for National Unity against the Economic Crisis" today, also announced that he’s asked Congress to postpone passing the Constitutional Reform until after February 27, as business and civil society groups had requested.

Fernandez cited stem cell research, renewable energy, genetically altered foods, and hybrid-electrical vehicles among the radical changes affecting humanity. “We are looking at those transformations that’ll enter the market sparking new riches, so we in Dominican Republic can’t waste time in inserting ourselves in that wave.”

“We need to create a new intelligence in Dominican Republic capable of taking advantage of this situation in which we have not only the optimism of reason, but also of willingness,” he said

Fernandez, who spoke after cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez and former Inter-American Development Bank president Enrique Iglesias and other personalities in the Hotel Hilton, said he’s aware the global crisis depicts certain adversities, “but united the Dominican nation well forge onward.”