In an interview in Jamaica with Hoy newspaper correspondent Manuel Jiménez, President Mejía spoke of highlights of his two hour conversation with Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien as the two made their way from Guatemala to Jamaica on board Canada’s Air Force One last Thursday. Mejía and Chretien had attended the Canada-Central America summit and would on hteir way to attend the Canada-Caricom summit. Mejía said that the Canadian Prime Minister showed an interest in assisting the DR to build hospitals, aqueducts, free zones and implement environmental conservation programs on the frontier with Haiti. The idea is to provide employment and social services in the frontier area to Haitians and Dominicans to reduce illegal migration of Haitians into the DR. Mejía said that now that there is an interest, the Dominican government will present a program with specific projects to the Canadian government for its consideration. He announced the Prime Minister invited him to visit Canada and he said that he would accept. A date has not been set. Mejía said that as of now bilateral relations between Canada and the DR have practically not existed. "Our relations have been at the non-governmental organization level. We are of the very few regional countries that do not receive any kind of cooperation or assistance from Canada," he said. Mejía said that he stressed the effects on the DR of a worsening of the crisis in Haiti. "We want them (Canada) to understand the problem as we see it, putting rules into place and having a clear sense of direction," he said. Mejía has complained there has been a lot of talk at the international level regarding Haiti, but no concrete actions to help improve the situation. In the DR there is concern now of the talk of again cutting international aid and placing an embargo to pressure the Haitian authorities to foster democracy. The same radical measures brought Jean Bertrand Aristide back to power and are now seen as having worsened not improved the situation in Haiti. These political measures if again taken are expected to worsen the situation for the average Haitian and make richer the rich within Haiti, hundreds of which live off the drug trade and would benefit from isolation. Mejía has stressed that the DR alone cannot carry the burden of hundreds of thousands of impoverished Haitians that are crossing the frontier seeking their survival. Mejía said that he has appointed former Central Bank governor, Eduardo Fernández to be the next ambassador of the Dominican Republic in Canada to improve relations with that country. "We are the interested party," he said. "It’s up to us to foster better relations." Fernández, a very prestigious local economist and business promoter, lived 10 years in Canada. At the present time he is a founding partner in the Deloitte & Touche consulting firm in the DR. In the past he has always been active promoting investments to the DR.
