| Danilo Del Rosario | ||||||
As part of its efforts to attract more hi-tech business,
the Mejía administration has continued to support a ‘cyberpark’
project outside Santo Domingo which was the brainchild of the
previous Fernández government, and which is combined with a
Technology Institute of Las Americas (ITLA) to provide training in
hi-tech fields.
“We inherited the concept and now we are completing the park,
building the premises and doing the international promotion needed
to bring high technology here,” says Danilo Del Rosario, executive
director of the Office for the Promotion of Foreign Investment
(OPI), which is part of the office of the presidency.
Officials connected with the free zone sector recognise the venture
is taking time to gather pace, but OPI says a 100,000 sq ft
building is now “practically ready” in the cyberpark, a venture
funded by both public and private sectors.
The aim is to attract companies in a range of fields: computing,
R&D, electronics, call centers, back office operations, and
e-business. Del Rosario refuses to divulge the names of potential
planned investors but says there are “concrete commitments” from
three: including a bio-medicine company, a call center, and a
company contracted by Microsoft to develop software.
Cisco Systems is also running one of its many international
networking academies at ITLA. Del Rosario says the government is
making it easier for hi-tech workers to get visas, saying 400
Indian technicians are coming to the country.