SANTO DOMINGO — Top Dominican government leaders have kicked off a landmark collaborative planning effort designed to guide the country toward full economic and social development over the next 13 years. President Luis Abinader and Vice President Raquel Peña headlined the opening of the first National Forum for Full Development, a public engagement initiative tied directly to the administration’s ambitious national development blueprint, Meta RD 2036.
The overarching strategy sets out a clear, bold goal: to transform the Dominican Republic into a high-income, fully developed nation by 2036 through a shared national effort. In remarks delivered during the forum’s closing ceremony, President Abinader outlined the core vision of the initiative: to deliver broad-based collective prosperity across the country by expanding access to improved public services, high-quality education, formal sector employment, and enhanced citizen security, while opening new economic and social opportunities for every Dominican.
Abinader explained that Meta RD 2036 is built around eight foundational pillars: sustainable development, social inclusion, technological and systemic innovation, consistent economic growth, strengthened public institutions, boosted national productivity, expanded knowledge generation, and strategic investment in national human capital. Unlike top-down development plans crafted solely in government offices, the forum was designed as a cross-sector consultation process, bringing together representatives from universities, civil society organizations, private industry, and community groups to share actionable proposals before the government finalizes its strategic priorities.
In a push to emphasize the initiative’s commitment to genuine public participation, Abinader stressed that the forum is far more than a symbolic gesture. All input and recommendations collected through the consultation process will be directly integrated into the strategy’s official priorities, future public policies, and national development plans. “We do not want a symbolic consultation, but participation reflected in priorities, decisions and public policy instruments,” Abinader told attendees.
The president further noted that meaningful long-term national reform requires both broad cross-sector consensus and urgent, immediate action. National progress, he argued, cannot be delivered by the government alone; it must grow out of coordinated joint effort from the public sector, private industry, academic institutions, and Dominican civil society as a whole.
Meta RD 2036 sets out a series of measurable, ambitious targets to achieve by the 2036 deadline. Among the most notable goals are doubling the country’s real gross domestic product, eradicating extreme poverty nationwide, generating 1.7 million new formal jobs, tripling the national average salary, and securing international investment-grade credit status to position the Dominican Republic as one of the most competitive economies in Latin America.
To implement the strategy across all key sectors of the national economy, the initiative has established 14 dedicated working committees. These panels focus on strategic industries ranging from agriculture, commerce, construction, and energy to finance, manufacturing, technology, transportation, tourism, free trade zones, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), ensuring that every critical part of the Dominican economy is represented in long-term planning.