A report in today’s Diario Libre, Friday 9 August, published on the occasion of the Danilo Medina administration’s first year mark analyzes the government’s foreign sector strategies. The report says that although the President has traveled abroad on 14 occasions no progress has been made in bilateral relations with our closest neighbor, Haiti. The report adds that the government has yet to restructure the Foreign Relations Ministry. Numerous media reports have criticized the high cost and inefficiency of foreign mission staff inherited from the Fernandez administration. For instance, investigative journalism magazine La Lupa recently reported that the government has 1,500 employees on the payroll at consulates and embassies. This includes 76 on the United Nations mission payroll, three of four of whom are not officially accredited abroad.
Diario Libre reports that in almost 12 months on the job, President Medina has traveled to the United States (1 trip), Spain (1), Venezuela (3), Puerto Rico (1), Colombia (1), Haiti (2), Costa Rica (2), Ecuador (1), Nicaragua (1) and Trinidad & Tobago (1).
www.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=396935&l=1
www.lalupa.com.do/2013/07/servicio-exterior-una-verguenza-nacional-que-cuesta-mas-de-rd1400-mm-en-salarios-al-ano/#more
www.acento.com.do/index.php/news/11570/56/La-Republica-Dominicana-tambien-lidera-el-derroche-diplomatico.html