Above: Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina and Edrington CEO Ian Curle

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina met this week with Ian Curle, Chief Executive Officer of Scotland’s The Edrington Group.

Edrington owns approximately 60 percent of Dominican rum brand Brugal, a stake which it acquired in 2008.

In Curle’s first meeting with a Dominican head of state, he and Medina “exchanged views on the benefits and opportunities it represents for the country to have a large global brand in international markets like Brugal,” according to a statement from the Dominican Republic’s National Palace.

The two sides also discussed ways Brugal might be taken to new premium consumer niches.

The rum is already sold in more than 40 countries on five continents.

Curle said Edrington had invested almost $37 million in improving technologies at its operations in the Dominican Republic since the 2008 acquisition.

The two were joined at the meeting by Brugal CEO Augusto Ramirez and Graham Hutcheon, president of the board of directors of Brugal and the company’s director of communications, Luis Concepcion.

“Brugal is now a global brand,” Curle said.