"Cisneros Group of Companies: Corporate and Social Commitment to the Dominican Republic"

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

I would like to begin this presentation by expressing my sincerest gratitude for your presence in this salon. I am honored to find myself here and to have the opportunity to share some information about the bonds that today link the Cisneros Group of Companies and this marvelous country that is the Dominican Republic.

In particular, I want to thank the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic for its cordial invitation, a gesture that gives me the opportunity to present the message of the uncompromising commitment, both corporate and social, that our organization has undertaken in this beloved country, which has become an example of hospitality for the entire world.

Those who know me know that my gratitude towards the Dominican Republic is a recurring theme in my feelings and conversation. In the month of March 2006, during the Business Leadership forum organized by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development, headed by President Leonel Fernandez, I said a few words that today I would like to repeat for you: “I feel at home in the Dominican Republic. I share a warm bond with this land and its industrious, cheerful and friendly people and I deeply appreciate their willingness to prosper and live in freedom, and their genuine solidarity with the rest of the hemisphere.”

And it is as a consequence of this, respectable friends that I am here. On one hand, I feel obligated to confirm my attachment and respect for this land of free men and women, dedicated to creative work; and on the other hand because I wish to describe the character of our corporate group for you, depict what we are, how we act and what programs of the Fundacion Cisneros we are advancing in Latin America, with special attention to our growing and fruitful activity in the Dominican Republic.

The first point that I should highlight about the Cisneros Group of Companies is that it is a private business organization, originating in the last century, and its most important trademark has been continuity, perseverance through the ages. In fact, for us the year 2009 deserves special consideration, because we have marked our 80th year of sustained business activity, 80 years of activity in the field of managerial and corporate innovation on a global scale.

The Cisneros Group of Companies was created by my father, Diego Cisneros, at the beginning of last century. Those which were his first undertakings came to fruition at the end of the 1920s as a small transportation company which with the passing years has become a corporation that has participated in the most diverse fields of the production world and has gathered experience in markets in different corners of the globe.

I spoke to you of the continuity through the ages. Since the moment that he began, Diego Cisneros stamped a personality on our organization, characterized by a modern business vision, a constant interest in using the most advanced production, trading and marketing tools; with the careful selection and training of human resources and an uncompromising commitment to social responsibility by our companies.

As the Group continued to advance under my leadership and grows stronger under the qualified hands of my daughter Adriana, we have acted to promote education, social progress and democratic principles in our hemisphere. What is today called Corporate Social Responsibility has been for decades an essential element of our operations.

That is how my wife Patty and I understood it, based on this philosophy of corporate activity, we began our first educational project on a wide scale, named ACUDE, which benefitted 300,000 people who were educated in the 1970s in Venezuela, a country, which at the time, had a population of about 15 million habitants. This program was executed with the cooperation of several of our companies, as well as our television and radio media outlets that encouraged people to join an educational project that was participatory, flexible and efficient.

Our social commitment led us to create Fundación Cisneros, with the mission of improving education in Latin America, promoting global awareness of the region’s contribution to global culture, and structuring and directing the corporate social responsibility programs of the Cisneros Group. Its innovative programs strengthen the social network, promote freedom of expression and democratic thought, promote economic progress and increase understanding among Latin American nations

During these years we have continued focusing our social commitment through educational programs that operate in 14 countries in the hemisphere, including the Dominican Republic, where, since 2005, we have operated a series of educational programs.

Through alliances with the Secretary of Education, INDOTEL, the Vocational Schools of the Armed Forces, Wind Telecom, Banco Popular, FONDESA, Barrick Gold, Columbia University, Punta Cana Group, and Centro León, utilizing the technological and communications platform of our corporate group, we have put in place an ambitious social responsibility strategy.

Since we arrived here, my family has felt taken in by this land, and we have adopted it as a place where we can rest and renew our energy, but also since the beginning we sought to collaborate with the community, the local and national authorities and contribute to the common good.

What are we specifically doing and what do we aspire to achieve in this country to which we have so many ties? We are investing to guarantee that the social progress of the communities where we act will become the axis of successful and positive development for the country and its people. Even at this very moment when, yesterday, according to Diario Hoy, there are various hotels in the areas of Cabarete, Sosúa, Marapicá, Costámbar, Cofresí and the municipality of Luperón, that are suffering the consequences of the global economic crisis.

I would like to note our support for the participation of Canadian multinational Barrick Gold in the Dominican Republic, a company of which I am a director and that as announced by President Fernandez will invest US$4.6 billion in the country, and that is currently working at full capacity in Cotuí. Its corporate project is on track with an extensive social responsibility strategy for which Fundación Cisneros helped develop educational content. Barrick is working to increase academic standards, as we are also doing through the Fundación Cisneros, in primary and secondary schools.

In fact, we already possess a cooperation agreement between the Fundación Cisneros, Intel and Barrick, that operates in Argentina, Chile and Peru, intended to create positive change in the dynamic of learning and teaching, through the use of technology for teachers and students in rural area schools. We have extended our agreement to the Dominican Republic.

Barrick’s Pueblo Viejo Project is located in the province of Sánchez Ramírez. It is the largest in the history of the country, with an initial budget of nearly $3 billion. The project will not only create thousands of jobs, but will also have a historic environmental impact being that the key priority of Barrick and the national government is to resolve the environmental problems of the area.

A large part of the social investment at Pueblo Viejo are aimed at increasing farmers' productivity, improve health, nutrition, education and adult literacy. Such social investments aim to increase personal income levels and improve the quality of life in communities near the mine, in addition to supporting national development.

In general, the Pueblo Viejo Dominican Corporation investments will also help develop a project that will train over 150 women, residents of rural areas, on subjects of Business, Leadership and Accounting. In general, Pueblo Viejo investments also plans to establish a fund for women entrepreneurs to create micro-businesses and services related to animal breeding.

At the same time, the Cisneros Group has undertaken a project on sustainable tourism at the highest level, Tropicalia, which proposes responsible development in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic. This project was presented to President Leonel Fernández and the Cabinet for Strategic Investment Projects, with all the details, on July 24th. A week later, on August 1st, President Fernández, along with the First Lady Margarita Fernandez, visited the site, which allowed us to explain the site's planned investment of US$2 billion, which includes a comprehensive Corporate Social Responsibility strategy already underway that my daughter, Adriana, will explain in a few minutes.

One of their emblematic programs is Cl@se, the first educational TV channel in Latin America, simultaneously aimed at children, teenagers, parents and teachers. The Fundación Cisneros distributes its content through agreements signed with educational authorities and telecommunication companies. About 40 thousand public schools in the hemisphere have access to our programming, including the Dominican Republic, thanks to an agreement signed this year with the Secretary of Education and Wind Telecom. Cl@se will be broadcast in 1,060 schools by late 2009.

Actualización de Maestros en Educación –AME-, is an online program aimed at primary education teachers that is present in 14 Latin American countries and has trained over 12,000 teachers with an impact that has benefited approximately 800 thousand students in the continent. In 2005, the Fundacion Cisneros introduced AME in the Dominican Republic and through partnerships with the Secretary of Education, the Armed Forces Vocational Schools, the Punta Cana Group and Barrick Gold, have trained over 1,800 teachers. These courses include fundamental topics such as School Ethics, Education for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Information Technology, Language Arts, and HIV / AIDS prevention, among others.

Piensa en Arte is an inquiry-based visual arts training program based on inquiry, whose workshops are designed to encourage children and youth in observational, expressive language and critical thinking skills. It operates in five countries in the region, has trained over 1,000 educators and benefited more than 100,000 students.

In the Dominican Republic, the Fundación Cisneros has taught Piensa en Arte workshops to 2,300 educators in Centro León in Santiago de los Caballeros. As it was achieved in Costa Rica, we look forward to a partnership with the Centro León, making it possible to extend this program nationally and benefit public schools with its methodology.

As you know, in 2004, President Leonel Fernández established the Presidential Commission on the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development, and in 2005, Miches was declared a Millennium Village. The intention is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in this area by 2015. This is a region with great potential for shared and sustainable development, culturally diverse and rich in agricultural resources with obvious potential to become another tourist attraction in the country.

In this regard, President Fernández has rendered his full support for the development of road work in the area including, construction of the new road that will cover the tourist region from Punta Cana to Uvero Alto, one of the pillars that will make this project viable, and will allow better use of the airports of Punta Cana and La Romana.

But also, there are a number of government projects already under way: along with the INESPRE, President Fernández inaugurated the Megamercado of Miches, where people can buy food at 40% discount. The construction of the aqueduct, the street paving plan and several technology centers, are some of the great initiatives that we, the private sector, have added as our own contributions.

Last March, my dear friend Haydeé Curet de Rainieri, during a presentation made to the House, referred to tourism in terms we cannot forget. She said: "Tourism is much more than hotels and planes. Tourism is the country, its industries and its people. It is society as a whole that hosts tourists. Tourism attracts visitors with efficiency, quality of service, cultural values, healthy environment and respect for natural beauty.”

Approaches such as these led us in the design and conception, during 2007, of Tropicalia and the Fundación Tropicalia, which are based on our conviction about the fundamental tie that should link business activity with social responsibility, and it is on this basis that I would now extend an invitation to the Dominican businessmen to participate in it.

It is not I who will discuss this subject, but rather my daughter Adriana who will speak in detail about the program with real relevance as she is responsible for the management of Tropicalia.

But, before she begins her speech, I want to be emphatic with regard to the following: Tropicalia is expected to represent a solid balance for this beautiful country, creating profitable jobs for several generations, improving education and helping to ensure food, housing, schools, health, joy and recreation to the families of El Seibo.

Thank You.