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Good practice Imported

ProDominicana — Coordinating the Dominican Republic's Export and Investment Drive

Dominican Republic · Santo Domingo · See the Dominican Republic profile · See the Santo Domingo profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 50% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Evolved from the 2003 CEI-RD into ProDominicana in 2017, the agency coordinates Dominican trade/investment promotion; exports hit a record $15.9bn in 2025 (+14%) and FDI logged a fourth consecutive annual record, per government and independent reporting.

23.5%
Export growth, 2020-2023
$12.93 billion (+8.3%)
Goods exports, 2024
$15.9 billion (+14%)
Goods exports, 2025
~97%
FDI inflow growth over five years to 2025
$5.03 billion
FDI inflow, 2025 (fourth consecutive annual record)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
ProDominicana (Centro de Exportación e Inversión de la República Dominicana)
Period
2003-2025
Keywords
export promotion, foreign direct investment, trade facilitation, women's economic empowerment

Context

The Dominican Republic created the Centro de Exportación e Inversión de la República Dominicana (CEI-RD) on 17 June 2003 under Law 98-03, merging the export promoter CEDOPEX with the investment office OPI-RD. In August 2017, Decree 275-17 rebranded and re-mandated the institution as ProDominicana.

Objectives

To execute the National Export and Investment Promotion Strategy, including targeted programmes such as SheTrades and 'Mujer Exporta+' for women-led exporting businesses.

Activities

ProDominicana coordinates national trade and investment promotion, running dedicated programmes supporting women-led exporting businesses in partnership with the International Trade Centre.

Results

Dominican goods exports grew 23.5% between 2020 and 2023, then reached successive records: $12.93 billion in 2024 (+8.3%) and $15.9 billion in 2025 (+14%), with growth led by raw gold, tobacco and medical/orthopaedic device exports. Foreign direct investment inflows rose roughly 97% over the five years to 2025, described as the country's fourth consecutive annual FDI record ($5.03 billion).

Conclusions

These are agency- and government-reported aggregate trade and investment totals rather than causal, firm-level evaluations of ProDominicana's specific interventions; export growth is concentrated in a handful of commodities whose prices (notably gold) are driven by global markets largely outside the agency's control, so the marginal contribution of ProDominicana's own services is not independently isolated.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
ProDominicana agency staff, International Trade Centre (ITC) partnership team for SheTrades

Conditions for success

  • Institutional continuity across a 2017 re-mandate (CEI-RD to ProDominicana)
  • Dedicated gender-targeted programmes (SheTrades, 'Mujer Exporta+') embedded in the national mandate
  • International partnership (ITC) supporting women-led exporter programming

Common failure modes

  • Export growth concentrated in a handful of commodities (notably gold) whose prices are driven by global markets outside the agency's control
  • No firm-level causal evaluation isolating the agency's marginal contribution to trade growth

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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