Tourism and real estate are booming in the Dominican Republic, but our economy has other facets as well.

We turn out many agricultural products: sugar cane, coffee, cotton, cocoa, tobacco, rice, beans, potatoes, corn, bananas, cattle, pigs, dairy products, meat, and eggs.

In the manufacturing area we are involved in sugar processing, ferronickel and gold mining, textiles, cement and tobacco. Ferronickel, sugar, gold, coffee and cocoa are among our largest exports.

Our capital, Santo Domingo, has been experiencing new growth and development, including construction of skyscrapers and shopping malls, improvement in roads and increased commercial activity. As the biggest city in the Caribbean, it has the most availability of services and most of the nation's companies have their headquarters in the city.

Our new economic growth has also led the nation to invest in its infrastructure, including new airport facilities and new highways.

The United States and the Dominican Republic enjoy a very strong commercial relationship. Bilateral trade amounted to US$9.3 billion in 2005. This represents United States exports totaling US$4.7 billion and imports from the Dominican Republic totaling US$4.6 billion.

In the Western Hemisphere, the Dominican Republic is the seventh largest trading partner of the United States (following Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia).

Recent government administrations in the Dominican Republic have adopted policies aimed at economic liberalization, including privatizing most state-owned enterprises, protecting intellectual property and working with the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the Central American Free Trade Agreement.