UN General Assembly
1957

14. We are a nation of 2,698,126 inhabitants. The successive cycles of administrative action since 1930 reflect the picture of a nation engaged in redeeming a barren past of unending civil strife that precipitated it into chaos and the most painful eclipses of its national sovereignty. There is not a single aspect of the administrative programme of a modern State in which the Dominican Republic does not offer a balance sheet characterized by positive achievement. It was exactly ten years ago that my country cancelled the last remnant of its international debt estimated at $10 million. This achievement marked the beginning of an era of growing economic prosperity which is clearly reflected in the steady upward curve of national revenue as indicated by a constant improvement in the budgetary situation.