SANTO DOMINGO.- Dominican Republic’s Environment and Natural Resources Ministry and the Energy and Atmospheric Alliance with Central America, co-financed by the governments of Austria, Finland and South Korea, will host a forum featuring renewable energies from November 18 and 19 in the Hotel Meliá Santo Domingo.

“In these times of heating of our planet Earth, we are aware that each country, each industry and each individual must look for suitable solutions. Technically Austria plays a very important role and offers revolutionary solutions in the European Union,” the organizers said in a statement and cite as an example that a quarter of the solar panels installed in the European Union are produced in Austria, “and for that reason it’s an important export product.”

“A small country which has few power resources and has learned from the last energy crises of the 1970s and 1980s spurred this new industrial sector, which currently provides more than 50,000 jobs,” they said.

“In the last few years the power sector doubled its growth compared with other areas. All this has been possible solely by the fact that our investment in sciences and technology is among the European Community’s highest and continues at the leading edge with new revolutionary developments such electric cars, with nano- and biotechnology solutions,” they said.

They note that last year’s bilateral trade between Dominican Republic and Austria was well-balanced, with 10.9 million euros worth of Austrian exports to Dominican Republic, while imports from Dominican Republic reached 12.3 million euros.

“The 2009 financial and economic crisis also affects trade relations. In that regard our exports fell 29.1% to 5.55 million euros,” the Austrian industrialists said, and cite areas such as energy beverages, machinery, drugs, paper, medical equipment, transformers and games of chance among the most imported items. “During that same period Austria imported 8.44 million euros (+9%) in goods from the Dominican Republic, among them electrical transformers, surgical instruments and tropical fruits such as mangos, bananas, avocados, as well as cigarettes.”

“Dominican tourism also benefits as last year around 14,000 Austrians visited this beautiful destination,” they said.

"The Austrian Trade Delegation can confirm that Austrian investors are increasingly looking for investment possibilities,” the organizers affirm, and announced the participation of the company Oekotrans GmbH in the event, which aims to install a solar energy plant with a capacity of more than 100 megawatts, which would entail an investment of around 400 million euros.

For community and social projects, the Austrian Government is giving its Dominican par and local businesses the possibility of soft credits in the form of low interest loans and a grace period of up to 5 years.

“A stable government and a favorable economic climate for foreign investors and a Free Trade Agreement with the European Community are the ingredients for future successes in the development of good bilateral relations,” the organizers of the Austria Showcase said.

“We hope that this economic mission, organized in the form of the Austria Showcase and in joint collaboration with the Austrian-Dominican Business Circle, piques the interest of the country’s political and economic circles and it would be our pleasure to welcome you to the work tables scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on November 19, in the Hotel Meliá Santo Domingo, the organizers said.

To confirm attendance contact:
Lic. Gertraud Lindorfer in Caracas, telephone: +58-212-993 98 44, and Email: caracas@austriantrade.org, and in Santo Domingo:
Srta. Almil Cabral, Tel: +1-809-947-7888, e-mail: almilcabral@hotmail.com

FEATURED COMPANIES:

The Doppelmayr/Garaventa group is leader in quality and technology in the cable car sector,

Waagner-Turn Stahlbau Group bridge construction division operates internationally in the areas of bridge construction, mechanical and steel construction, and railroad construction.

Entec GmbH Biogas offers construction design, supervision, the startup and monitoring of biogas plants.

With 25 years of experience in the area of wind energy, STEP Energysystems GmbH is at the leading edge in renewable energy development and was awarded with the Solar Prize “Mini Energy Sun and Wind Parks” in 1999.

S.O.L.I.D. is an Austrian company specialized in solar engineering as well as everything relating to major thermal energy plants.

Oekotrans GmbH is an internationally active company in the development of renewable energy projects and has developed several solar energy projects in Europe.