Vice President Raquel Peña highlighted the tobacco industry as key to the growth of the Dominican economy. She spoke in this city by leading the act of openingtogether with the Minister of Industry and Commerce, of two new companies.
These are the free zone industries: Tobacco Insight Pack International and Manojos Tobacco Process, belonging to the ARV Group.
In Insight Pack International, dedicated to producing flexible packaging with state-of-the-art technology, 12 million dollars were invested in the expansion of the Víctor Espaillat Mera Industrial Park.
Meanwhile, Manojos Tobacco Process, aimed at processing and flavoring strand tobacco, has a production capacity of 22 million pounds per year.
Vice President Peña was on behalf of President Luis Abinader at the opening of the companies, where he highlighted that they see in the development of the sector the livelihood of thousands of Dominican families.
“Since we came to the government we made the relaunch of the tobacco sector, raising its competitiveness and entering new international markets. Today this sector accounts for 17 percent of all Dominican exports from free zones and generates about 6 percent of the country’s total foreign exchange. In this last year, in free zones the generation of jobs has been superior to the tourism sector,” said the official.
“Never before has the union of all sectors of the national productive fabric and the central government achieved such synergy to march together towards the same direction, focusing on what unites us: the well-being and growth of the country,” he emphasized.
He stressed that this is thanks to an industrial plan that seeks to maintain the position of the Dominican Republic as a world leader in exports, taking advantage of new opportunities for growth and reaching new markets, betting on the generation of jobs and the reactivation of the Dominican economy.
On his side, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Víctor -Ito- Bisonó, reported that with Manojos Tobacco Process and Insight Pack International, a route of inaugurations of new companies that choose the Dominican Republic as a destination for their investments or who decide to expand their operations.
The official reported that in August 2020 in free zones there were 130 thousand jobs and a year later they increased to 180 thousand jobs. He stressed that they are the best numbers in the last 15 years.
Similarly, Augusto Reyes Estrella, who is chief operating officer and president of Insight Pack International, pointed out that attracting the mechanized cigarette market to the country through the Swisher company has meant great benefits, such as the generation of more than 3,000 jobs direct and the increase of its exports.
He reaffirmed his family’s commitment to the development of the Dominican Republic, by approving a new project for the production of natural wrapper cigars under the company Swisher Dominicana, which will have an expansion of 325,000 square feet, generating some 1,500 in its first stage. jobs direct. The approximate investment is 70 million dollars.
The vice president was accompanied in the activity by the president of the Senate and representative for the province of Santiago, Eduardo Estrella; the Minister of Housing, Habitat and Buildings, Carlos Bonilla; and the general manager of the Banco de Reservas, Samuel Pereyra.
