Ambassador talks on NAFTA

Bernardo Vega, a 1959 Wharton graduate and now the Dominican Republic's ambassador to the United States, returned to campus yesterday to discuss "NAFTA and the Caribbean Nations: Problems and Prospects." The event, sponsored by the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, attracted about 50 internationally oriented students and faculty. Beginning his speech with personal thoughts on the current economic conditions in the Caribbean, Vega said NAFTA's expansion into Caribbean nations is an issue of "globalization." "The Caribbean is facing economic integration," he said, adding that the region now deals commercially with many other nations. Vega noted that the strength of the United States economy partially relies on NAFTA's expansion, and that greater trade would benefit both the U.S. and Caribbean nations. "The United States has to depend on the growth of the world," he said. "[American] foreign policy is very trade-driven?. Computers, banking and insurance are all pushing free trade." Vega continued, however, by questioning the U.S. hesitancy to open its economy to the world, despite its low inflation and unemployment rates. The "motor of development" in the Caribbean, he said, is fueled by the area's potential as a "back office." He explained that the Caribbean countries have the ability to develop their own industries and supply the U.S. with some of the resulting benefits. The region can be especially strong in telecommunications, and in professions such as accounting, software design, architecture and data processing. Through the manipulation of "computers and modems," Vega said the Caribbean has developed into a tropical haven for the growing number of people working out of the "home" rather than at the office. Turning his focus to the Dominican Republic, Vega emphasized the country's strategic location and its "healthy macroeconomic" conditions as positive incentives for free trade. After Vega's lecture, Wharton graduate student David Small said that while he respected Vega's thoughts, he felt that Vega neglected non-economic issues. "For the most part, I thought that his perspective was really insightful," Small said. "But he was talking pretty much on an economic level, and I think that there are some social concerns among the Caribbean countries." He added, "You'd have to peel away another layer to understand what the long-term outcome would be [regarding] social and political undertones in the countries." Another student, Wharton and College junior Cherianne Clarke, also questioned some of Vega's views. After he discussed the benefits of foreign labor in Caribbean countries, Clarke, who hails from Barbados, said, "There's a problem with resentment of people coming in because we are a small island and we have limited resources."