Mr. Danilo Medina, presidential candidate.

Mrs. Ana María Ramos, President of the Board of Regents of INTEC.

Ministers, ministers, ladies and gentlemen who accompany the presidential candidate.

Members of the Board of Regents and the Academic Council of INTEC,

Past rectors and regents, authorities, professors, students and collaborators of our university
Friends present,

Four decades ago, a group of professionals decided to join forces to found a university that lived up to their greatest dreams. The ideal of that group, which we today recognize as visionary, was to create an institution that would respond dynamically to the unmet needs of a society in the process of industrialization, urbanization and globalization. That was, of course, the starting point of the Instituto Tecnológico de santo Domingo, which in this year 2012 enthusiastically celebrates forty years of life.
Undoubtedly, Dominican society and our institution have undergone great changes throughout that period, but the essence of INTEC remains unscathed. Its identification with excellence continues to be its distinctive feature, the search for scientific rigor is still its most notable value and the effort to contribute to improving the quality of life of Dominicans continues as its constant concern.

This activity is a reflection of those INTEC vital signs. The objective is to provide a forum for reflection on the national destiny, in a framework of academic sobriety and in an environment where the voices of the younger population have pre-eminence. In this sense, it should be remembered that 1 in 4 people registered in the electoral roll is between 16 and 29 years old, and that 1 in 4 declares themselves as a student.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, it is not an exaggeration to say that the course of our country will largely depend on the preferences and concerns of the university community. This is the context in which we welcome our guest today, the presidential candidate, Mr. Danilo Medina, whom we thank for accepting our invitation.
Danilo Medina was born in 1951, in the province of San Juan de la Maguana. He completed his primary and intermediate studies at the Francisco del Rosario Sánchez School and completed his secondary studies at the Pedro Henríquez Ureña High School, in his native municipality, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Sciences. At the university level, he studied Chemical Engineering at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and later graduated as an economist from INTEC.

His political career began in 1973, as a founding member of the Dominican Liberation Party. He was elected National Deputy in 1986, 1990 and 1994. During the 1990-94 legislative period he was the spokesperson for the congressional bloc of his party, and in the period that began in 1994 he was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies. Later, he was Secretary of State for the Presidency in the periods 1996-2000 and 2004-2006. He is currently a presidential candidate for the Dominican Liberation Party, and that is the condition in which we received him this afternoon.

Mr. Candidate, Lic. Danilo Medina, on behalf of INTEC, I warmly welcome you, while I politely invite you to take the main table that we have reserved for you.