A group of 24 representatives from the Dominican business community recently traveled to Haiti, where they met with their Haitian counterparts and President René Preval. Before departing, they told reporters that they have placed the possibility of joint ventures with assistance from international aid donors high on their agenda. The European Union has already allocated some RD$600 million for various projects in the two nations sharing the island of Hispaniola.
Spokesman Félix García, acting president for the Consejo Nacional de la Empresa Privada (CONEP), said that the time has now come when Haiti and the Dominican Republic need to formalize their commercial links, and added that the new legal framework for foreign investment on this side of the island will undoubtedly hasten this process. It is estimated that the informal trade conducted along the border between the two neighbors may be worth over US$50 million.
Mr. García believes that Haiti will have to make significant investments in construction, a sector where Dominican contractors have accumulated years of experience and sophisticated equipment. Another area he thinks both countries should jointly develop, once Haiti improves its existing infrastructure, is tourism.
Moreover, the Dominican representative to the Lome IV Convention, Angel Lockward, who accompanied the business delegation on the trip, thinks that both nations need to collaborate with a view to increasing their exports to the EEC. He says that such a partnership should place them in a favorable position vis-a-vis the other Caribbean islands when exporting to this huge market of more than 370 million consumers.