One of the most important contributions of Dominican Week during the last fifteen years has been to strengthen interest in Dominican affairs by means of effective, highlevel communication.

Among the contributions is the fact that the Dominican Diaspora has used this forum to bring to the discussion table topics that are relevant to its participation in the culture, economy and politics of both the Dominican Republic and the United States. Some of these important milestones are the debate on the vote of Dominicans residing abroad and the drafting of legislative proposals aimed at protecting their economic interests, which were formally introduced during a meeting with the Commission from the Chamber of Deputies that travelled to the United States with the express interest of hearing the debates on these initiatives. The meeting took place as part of the activities of Dominican Week.

Another important contribution is aiding in keeping Dominican interests on the agendas of the highest decision-making circles in the United States and on international organizations which have a presence in the U.S. Every year, these highest ranking and most prestigious institutions of the government, business, academic and artistic worlds have hosted events for Dominican Week, promoting a positive perception of the values of the Dominican identity and correcting denigrating and prejudiced impressions of the country and its Diaspora.

This has been attained through the empowerment of the Dominican community; the repeated access to first rank organizations such as the Department of State, the Department of Agriculture, the Export-Import Bank (Eximbank), the Office of the Governor of New York, the Office of the Commercial Representative of the United States, the Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, New York’s City Hall, the management of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Office for the Promotion of Private Foreign Investment (OPIC), among others.

Dominican Week has been a privileged and effective forum to channel vital aspirations, such as the preservation and improvement of the preferential access to the United States’ market, focused, for example, on the Textile Parity legislation and on the implications of the Free Trade Agreement.

Another important contribution of Dominican Week has been the quality of the academic exchanges and the increased attention on the study of Dominican affairs, sponsored by noted intellectuals from here and from there gathered in the most prestigious university campuses; of note are: Harvard University (the John F. Kennedy School of Government), Georgetown University (the Strategic Center of International Studies), George Washington University, Seton Hall University, Jersey City State College, Johns Hopkins University (the Center for Strategic International Studies), the Institute for Caribbean Studies, City University of New York (the Dominican Studies Institute), Columbia University, the University of Puerto Rico (Rio Piedras Campus), the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and Florida International University.

In this context we must examine events such as the first national conference of professors of Dominican Studies in the United States, as well as the meetings of six rectors of Dominican universities with their colleagues from eighteen universities on the East Coast of the United States to discuss academic topics; these meetings resulted in cooperation and accreditation agreements, as well as joint training and research programs.

Dominican Week has, then, been the vehicle to encourage academic exchanges between the United States and the Dominican Republic, driving the participation of Dominicans resident in the United States in the U.S.’s intellectual circles, such as the noted cases of Rosario Espinal, Silvio Torres, Julia Alvarez, Junot Díaz and Ramona Hernández, among others.

Both the self-esteem and self-confidence of the Dominican community resident in the United States have been reinforced by the numerous examples of excellence with which Dominican Week has gained respect for our national identity and have also fostered the debate on important topics and the participation of national and international personalities in this debate. Diaspora leaders such as Guillermo Linares have used our forum, together with national leaders such as Presidents Hipólito Mejía and Leonel Fernández and Vice-presidents Milagros Ortíz Bosch, Rafael Alburquerque, Jacinto Peynado and Jaime David Fernández Mirabal. Civic, business and academic leaders such as César Estrella Sadhalá, Eduardo Latorre, Bernardo Vega, Frank Moya Pons, Frederic Eman-Zade, Jack Rannik, Ellis Pérez, Ramón Martínez Aponte, Rubén Silié, Rafael Menicucci, José del Castillo, Roberto Saladín, José del Carmen Ariza, Jacqueline Malagón, Roberto Alvarez, Víctor Thomen, Flavio Darío Espinal, United States Congressmen Bob Méndez, Bob Serrano and Ben Gilman, and many others of this standing are some of the prestigious speakers that have participated in events sponsored by Dominican Week.