The Secretariat of Economy (SE, by its initials in Spanish) of Mexico and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) of Dominican Republic signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the purpose of advising and assisting the Caribbean country in implementation of a reform of secured transactions.

The Agreement was signed by the Director General of Commercial Regulations of the SE, Elsa Regina Gómez Ayala, who came with the representation of the Under Secretariat of Competition and Regulation, Rocío Ruiz Chávez, and the Deputy Minister of Development to the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Dominican Republic, Ignacio Méndez Fernandez.

During the event, Elsa Regina Ayala highlighted the efforts made by Dominican Republic, through the MIC, to improve the business climate, especially for increasing the access to credit for the SMEs, and she showed the willingness of the SE to support and share their experiences and best practices on the issue of security guarantees.

For its part, the Deputy Ministry for the Promotion of the SMEs stated that this rapprochement between the MIC and the Secretariat of Economy complements the efforts of the reforms being made since 2013 to expand access to credit for the SMEs; and those who various public and private actors have been involved, such as the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (CBDR), the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPYD) and the World Bank (WB).

"This MOU demonstrates that our public institutions, the international organizations and colleague institutions can work articulated and make joint efforts to improve the access to credit for our SMEs and the business climate in our country", said Ignacio Méndez.

The works of reform to the system of security transactions in the country are part of the Project of Technical Assistance, signed between the MEPYD and the World Bank, which it was agreed to work four targeted indicators of the Doing Business Report to improve the business climate in Dominican Republic. These efforts have been supported of CBDR and its implementation is being carried out by the MIC, in the Bureau of access to credit.

A SEMINAR ON SECURED TRANSACTIONS IS PERFORMED

Later, Elsa Regina Ayala Gómez, Director General of Commercial Regulations, and Diana Muñoz, Coordinating Director of the Public Registry, taught the seminar "The security transactions as a tool for access to credit for the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: the experience of Mexico," which covered all in legal matters concerning applicable to secured transactions, in order to guide the sectors involved on the relevance of the topic.

In the event, which was held in the auditorium of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, more than 60 professionals in the areas of law and economics as well as representatives of various banks in the country, who exchanged experiences and strengthened their knowledge participated.