Looks like the Dominican Republic will have to find alternative markets for its poultry and egg production. It appears that the Haitian government wants to protect its own production and is therefore banning lower-cost imports from the Dominican Republic.
Minister of Agriculture Luis Ramon Rodriguez, Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo and Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso described a proposal from the visiting Haitian mission to lift the ban on other meat imports as “totally unacceptable.”
Haitian Foreign Relations Minister Richard Pierre Casimir, Agriculture Minister Thomas Edgar Jacques, Cabinet Director Jean Claude Barthelemy, Animal Health Minister Michel Chancy and former Haitian Ambassador to the DR Fritz Cineas met with their Dominican counterparts yesterday, Monday 17 June.
As well as Morales and Rodriguez, the Dominican Republic was represented by Deputy Foreign Relations Minister Juan Andres Pla Gomez, Deputy Industry and Commerce Minister Yajaira Sosa, the Livestock Commission’s Animal Heath Director Lissette Gomez, the Dominican ambassador in Haiti, Ruben Silie and the executive director of the Bilateral Dominican-Haitian Commission, Roberto Martinez Villanueva.
Haiti originally imposed the ban claiming that avian flu was present in the Dominican Republic. Rodriguez said that the Dominican Republic has provided all the proof necessary to lift the ban, and it had been accepted, however the ban still has not been lifted.
Meanwhile, representatives from the poultry industry say they are losing RD$68 million for every week of the ban. The ban has been in place for two weeks now.
Padre Regino Martinez of the Border Solidarity Center says that the only winners in this situation are the armed forces and smugglers.
Commenting on the case, President Danilo Medina said: “Interests are involved and each knows what the interests of the country are and how they can defend them,” as reported in El Caribe. “There are interests involved, that is a business,” clarified Medina. President Medina said, “We have to resolve the problem so that local producers do not depend on that market.”
See more at: www.elcaribe.com.do/2013/06/18/medina-afirma-que-intereses-envuelven-veda-haiti-ldquoeso-negocio#sthash.CgnQAVQH.dpuf
www.eldia.com.do/nacionales/2013/6/17/116923/Huelga-en-la-frontera-afecta-mas-a-pobres
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2013/6/18/281137/RD-dice-es-inaceptable-propuesta-le-hizo-Haiti
www.defend.ht/money/articles/business/4384-yunus-taps-brazil-foods-to-develop-poultry-industry-in-haiti