US Ambassador, Mary Kramer

The US Ambassador made the comments as she concluded her final visit to Dominica as the US representative in this Region. Ambassador Kramer said: “I have in particular enjoyed working with your Prime Minister and other members of this Government because I think they are focussed clearly on what Dominica has needed to do.

“And you have had to do economically some very hard things and I congratulate the Government and people of Dominica for getting their financial house in order and now being able to look ahead to a very bright future.”

In 2002, the Government of Dominica entered into a relationship with the International Monetary Fund in an effort to confront the complex fiscal and public debt problems facing the country. The success of that relationship is now clearly being manifested with the economy projected to record another year of above-average growth for 2006.

Ambassador Kramer also expressed her admiration for the Dominica Youth Business Trust and its capacity to create jobs and generate income for young persons. Recently, the Dominican Government made available a cheque of $1 million to the DYBT.

The US Government official also told a press conference that during her three-year tenure as Ambassador, the United States had disbursed in grants over US$200 million to the Region.