President of the Dominican Republic Dr Leonel Fernandez Reyna said that the Rio Group has to be revitalised and new programmes of cooperation have to be identified, objectives he intends to pursue as incoming chairman. Speaking to this newspaper on his departure from the Guyana Inter-national Conference Centre (GICC) yesterday, the head of state gave his vision for the regional grouping of countries.
It was the wrap-up of the 19th Meeting of the Rio Group member states, comprising the countries of Central and South America.
Dr Reyna said that it was important for the group to focus on the development of new financial instruments for countries in the region. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have been in discussions with the various states in the Rio Group. During the speech yesterday for the handing over of the chairmanship of the Rio Group, Dr Fernandez spoke of the threat of climate change and said that states were vulnerable to coastal flooding.
He went on to say that the regional grouping had an agenda which was complex and extensive for furthering the member states’ interests.
Fernandez said that the Rio Group was a place for reflection and coordination. “Let us begin with democracy. We have seen ourselves in a much better position now than we did 20 years ago,” he said, acknowledging that Haiti too was taking the struggle for democracy forward.
He said that there had been a concern about the building of democratic systems and added that it was important for countries to do all they could to improve their economic position.
He observed however that while economic improvement was good it was not enough to guarantee development. “We have to manage the fiscal deficits [of our countries] well.
We have to maintain appropriate exchange rates. We need to revitalise
