The province of Pedernales has the conditions and potential for the development of sustainable community-based tourism involving the communities and taking advantage of the natural resources offered by the entire area, including Cabo Rojo and the Enriquillo region.
This was stated by the Vice Minister of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Tourism, Carlos Peguero, while giving a speech in front of representatives of CESAL and the Dominican Institute of Integral Development (IDDI), organizations that will provide technical support to this project promoted by the Government in a strategic alliance with the private sector.
As part of a series of activities carried out here, regarding the Pedernales Development Project in its first phase, Carlos Peguero, also executive director of the referred plan, and the Minister of the Presidency, Lisandro Macarrulla, headed the launching ceremony of the Project “Promotion of a Public-Private Alliance for the Strengthening of the Sustainable Tourism Chain in Pedernales”.
The project’s sole objective is to be as inclusive as possible with all the population groups involved and respectful of the environment, explained Carlota Mato, general coordinator of the CESAL Binational Program in Frontera Sur.
Clara Revuelta, director of CESAL, explained that the plan will seek to promote the development of Pedernales through local governance for the management of sustainable tourism with improvements in capacities, contributing to the social capital that exists in the province and responding to the demand for employment and entrepreneurship.
They also revealed that the new Sustainable Community Tourism project will add value to all the cultural and natural heritage of the Enriquillo region by making productive linkages in other sectors such as agriculture.
In his speech, the Vice Minister of International Cooperation of Mitur, Carlos Peguero, affirmed that the Dominican Republic has a consolidated SCT offer with quality products and services managed by empowered communities.
He indicated that through this plan, “guiding and promoting local development throughout the national territory for the benefit of the communities is the primary mission of this program.”
“With this model of Tourism we seek the economic development of the local population in addition to promoting the conservation of culture and nature configured as a tool to fight poverty with multiplier effects on the GDP,” he said.
The Minister of the Presidency Lisandro Macarrulla, who is also the president of the Presidential Commission for the Tourist Development of Pedernales, assured that since before the current government took office, the province of Pedernales has been a priority of President Luis Abinader in the vision of development of community integration due to its enormous potential of resources.
This launching ceremony of the Sustainable Community Tourism Project, held at the Governor’s Office of Pedernales, was part of the commemorative events for the 64th anniversary of the founding of the province.
The event was attended by the Spanish ambassador in the country, Antonio Pérez Hernández; Pavel Isa, vice-minister of Planning of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD); Sigmund Freund, director of the General Directorate of Public-Private Alliances; the governor and mayor of Pedernales, Altagracia Brea González and Andrés Jiménez Sánchez, respectively, as well as the members of the Development Council of Pedernales.
