PDE Roadshow to Visit Dominican Republic

(IDEX Online News) – The Panama Diamond Exchange (PDE) is holding its first Caribbean roadshow in the Dominican Republic. The visit will take place in the capital city of Santa Domingo from September 7-9.

The roadshow, the PDE’s sixth, is being led by by Judy Meana, vice president of the PDE, and Ali Pastorini, director of Marketing of the World Jewelry Hub (WJH).

The gathering will feature a B2B networking event, which will give delegation members and key jewelers from the Dominican Republic the chance to meet and schedule one-on-one meetings.

The Dominican Republic has Latin America's ninth-largest GDP and the largest in the Caribbean and Central American region. It is one of the world's fastest expanding economies, with growth averaging around 5.5 percent annually between 1991 and 2013. In addition, the country registers 5 million tourist arrivals each year, far outpacing all other islands in the Caribbean.

The country serves as a production center for many US jewelry companies. It also is Latin America's sixth largest gold producer and the 20th largest globally, with an estimated 40 million ounces of gold reserves. It is a rich source of amber, and is the world's only known producer of Larimar, a rare gemstone that also is known as Atlantis Stone, which has an extraordinary blue color similar to that of the tropical sea.

"The Dominican Republic is a lynchpin in a region that critical in Latin America," said Meana. "It not only is the gateway to the Caribbean, but also a lucrative jewelry market serving millions of tourists from the United States and around the world. We consider this to be a most important stop in PDE's outreach program."