The Dominican Republic is a potentially lucrative market for consumer-oriented food exports from the U.S. It is predicted that the Dominican Republic will achieve an average annual GDP growth rate of 4.4 percent from 2009 to 2012. The recent implementation of a free trade agreement between the United States and the Dominican Republic, under the larger CAFTA-DR umbrella, has created enormous potential for further increasing SUSTA region exports of consumer-oriented food products to this island nation. In 2007, the Dominican Republic purchased $136.6 million in consumer-oriented agricultural products from the U.S., a 37 percent increase from 2006. The geographic proximity of the SUSTA region also provides opportunities for U.S. suppliers in this developing market.