Adozona Positions Dominican Free Zones as the Ideal Platform to Promote Interaction and Industrial Cooperation Between Both Countries
The Dominican Association of Free Zones (Adozona) reiterated the country’s growing capability to position itself as a regional benchmark for advanced manufacturing and global services and the multiple opportunities that are opening up for strategic cooperation between the Dominican Republic and Spain to strengthen their value chains, generate technological innovation, and make the economies of both countries more competitive.
Forging a Common Perspective for the Industrial Transformation
During the panel entitled “Dominican Republic: A Reliable Ecosystem for Advanced Manufacturing and Global Services,” which took place at the headquarters of the Mapfre Foundation in Madrid, Adozona president Claudia Pellerano pointed out that Dominican Free Zones are the ideal platform to capitalize on the complementarity between both countries. She also said that the Dominican Republic and Spain have long historical, cultural, and economic ties that enable them to “lead a new era of industrial cooperation centered on the transfer of technologies, sustainable production processes, and investment with greater added value.” “The Dominican Republic has a strong, competitive, and consolidated ecosystem, with talent, infrastructure, and an institutional framework that is very innovation-friendly. The Free Zones are the vehicle that allows us to connect capabilities, generate synergies, and build a common future of advanced manufacturing and global services,” said Pellerano, according to the press release. In this sense, she also noted that the country’s strategic location, which connects North America, Latin America, and Europe, gives it an attractive competitive advantage in global trade routes, which would allow for companies from both countries to cooperate in supply chain management, logistics, and export diversification in a more fluid and efficient manner.
Event Boosted by Strategic Institutions
The event was led by the Executive President of Banco BHD, Fidelio Despradel; the CEO of Mapfre, Antonio Huertas, and the Dominican Minister of Industry, Commerce, and MSMEs, Víctor Bisonó. The officials emphasized that the public-private collaboration is key to promoting competitiveness and positioning both markets to attract high-value-added investments. “The strengthening of the collaboration between both economies is key to reinforcing trade and commercial integration and establishing a new alliance between two nations that share history and a future that we can write together and look at with optimism and hope,” said Despradel. In the same vein, the Executive President of Banco BHD said that bilateral cooperation could serve as a multiplier for investment in strategic sectors such as renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, logistics, and digital services. Huertas, in turn, highlighted the great opportunity that Spanish companies have to leverage the Dominican Republic’s stable economy and its network of trade agreements to increase their footprint in the Caribbean and the Americas. “The articulation of financial institutions, insurance, and industry agents will be key to generating the next generation of industrial projects that prioritize innovation, sustainability, and inclusion,” Huertas added.
Logistics, a Key Component for Industrial Connectivity
On the other hand, Erik Alma, CEO of HIT Puerto Río Haina and a member of the board of directors of Adozona, highlighted the strategic advantage represented by the Dominican logistics ecosystem. He said that it has a key role in improving connectivity, efficiency, and the expansion of industrial operations throughout the region. He explained that the country’s port infrastructure, airports, highway system, among others, and its proximity to the largest markets of the United States and Latin America, make it an ideal location for companies looking to optimize operations. The increasing integration between both countries could open up investment opportunities in port modernization, intelligent logistics technologies, and green infrastructure to further consolidate the region’s connectivity.
A Free Zone Model with Multiple Opportunities
Today, the Free Zones in the Dominican Republic house 843 companies in operation, distributed in 94 industrial parks. These receive investment of more than USD 7.7 billion, generate over 198,000 direct jobs, and have exported goods for USD 8.426 billion in 2024, which represents more than 60% of total exports of the national economy. These figures not only reflect the scale and maturity of the Free Zone model in the country, but also its constant evolution towards more sophisticated and sustainable production processes. Sectors such as life sciences, medical devices, electronics, textiles, and business process outsourcing (BPO) are still gaining strength and consolidating the country as one of the main industrial and services platforms in the Caribbean. In this sense, Pellerano stressed that its growth has been fueled by the permanent alignment between the private sector and public institutions such as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, as well as the National Free Zones Council. “The public-private synergy that we are forging between industry and key institutions is giving us very good results. It has been key to giving companies agility in management, stability, and trust. The opportunity to work in strategic sectors such as life sciences, logistics, and advanced manufacturing generates dynamism that we want to multiply,” she explained.
Generating Learning Networks and New Innovations
The forum also featured Spanish investors and entrepreneurs who shared their experience in the Dominican Republic. Participants pointed out that the Dominican Republic is a country committed to industrial development with a business-friendly regulatory framework and an increasingly qualified talent pool in areas such as engineering, IT, and manufacturing. Participants discussed how Spain’s technology and industrial know-how could complement the Dominican Republic’s capabilities in manufacturing and its competitive labor costs. Both countries could strengthen joint efforts in research and development projects, promote joint ventures, and create training programs to nurture a new generation of skilled professionals.
Spain and the Dominican Republic are closer to a shared future of industrial competitiveness
This meeting was another milestone in the increasingly deepening economic relationship between the Dominican Republic and Spain. The event reaffirmed both countries’ commitment to innovation, sustainability, and mutual development. Spain’s and the Dominican Republic’s cooperation is expected to continue reaping future achievements in other strategic areas such as renewable energy, smart manufacturing, digital transformation, and modernization of logistics. The alliance is betting on adding value to Spain’s technological sophistication and combining it with the Dominican Republic’s industrial strength and its location. They are laying the foundations for a future of greater strength and connection between both sides of the Atlantic. This successful venture once again proved that when public and private sectors combine efforts, the result is capable of redefining the competitiveness of the region and generating lasting opportunities for both economies. The Dominican Free Zones continue to be the bridge that unites talent, technology, and investment, and it is the lever that drives the transformation of the Caribbean into a hub for advanced manufacturing and global services that serve the most demanding markets in the world.