The Ministry of Foreign Relations has announced the suspension of United States Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the DR, planned for Tuesday, 9 March given the priority the US government is giving to the Ukraine crisis. After attending President Michele Bachelet’s inauguration in Chile, Biden will return to Washington in time for Wednesday, 12 March when US President Barack Obama meets with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in what is said to be a prominent show of US support for Ukraine’s fledgling government. The White House says that Biden plans to reschedule his trip to the Dominican Republic.
Last week, the Presidency reported that talks with Haiti would be postponed until 20 March to allow for the Vice President’s visit.
“We hope that Vice President Biden can soon enjoy Dominican hospitality and continue to strengthen cooperation relations with the Dominican Republic that are at a high point, as spokespersons for the US Department of State and the White House recently told the press,” said the Ministry in a press release announcing the suspension of the visit.
In a briefing on Friday, 7 March, the White House announced the agenda for the Santo Domingo stopover. The nationalization of Haitian immigrants living in the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela and energy issues topped US Vice President Joe Biden’s agenda.
Senior administration officials listed the issues to be discussed as:
Nationalization bill
“We are hopeful that there will be a conclusion to this matter through legislation that will address those most affected by that ruling,” stated the official at the press conference.
“First of all, we recognize that every country has the sovereign right to determine its nationality laws and its domestic legislation. With respect to the constitutional court ruling, we’ve conveyed our deep concern to the government of the Dominican Republic regarding the impact on the citizenship status of persons living in the Dominican Republic, including those with longstanding either residence or close ties to the Dominican Republic. Our understanding is that perhaps as many as 200,000 people could be affected by this.
“We’ve engaged at senior levels with Dominican authorities who’ve been very transparent with us in discussing their approach to this and their desire to achieve a resolution that is nondiscriminatory and that reflects the need to have a just solution for people who have longstanding ties and connections to the Dominican Republic, and also to not further those groups that are already in a condition of vulnerability or that would be at risk in other senses, or deny them documentation and the ability to fully participate in the country – they belong and where they live.
“So this is something that is important not just to us, but other members of the international community, and it’s something that we’ve worked very closely on with a number of partners. And we know that other actors are also very active in dealing with this.”
Venezuela and energy issues
Venezuela is the Dominican Republic’s main fuel supplier, as well as the country’s leading creditor through the PetroCaribe oil purchasing agreement. Nevertheless, in recent years, the DR has been fitting generator plants to source natural gas that the US now has more readily available, thus reducing dependence on Venezuelan oil and PetroCaribe.
“The Vice President will place particular emphasis on the issue of energy security while he’s in the Dominican Republic, given the challenges and opportunities that have been created in recent years in the region, and our deep investment in making sure that all the countries of the Caribbean and the broad region are able to access secure, stable, and affordable supplies of energy to power their economies and provide better lives for their people,” stated the official.
“On energy issues, we already have lots of cooperation. But we’re very interested in expanding our leadership role and cooperation not just United States, but also by working with Canada, Mexico, and other partners to help address some of the distortions and market issues that have affected the distribution of energy in the Caribbean. As my colleague mentioned, this is an area that’s important to us, because we see it as key to improving the competitiveness of the Caribbean and for Central America, for that matter, in the global economy.”
The US administration pointed out the strong ties with the Dominican Republic as reflected by the fact that more than 1.5 million Dominicans and descendants live in the US and more than 250,000 US citizens live in the Dominican Republic, plus around 1.5 million US tourists visiting every year. Moreover, the US is a major beneficiary of the DR CAFTA trade agreement that has been key for increasing US exports to the Dominican Republic. The US administration says that the DR is an important voice in issues facing Caribbean countries, as well as Central American countries, as the current president of the Central American Integration System through June 2014.
They also pointed out the good cooperation with Dominican authorities in terms of security and law enforcement, and recent support for setting up the 911 system in Santo Domingo. The official said that the US government is running programs for HIV/AIDS prevention, climate change vulnerability reduction and strengthening government institutions.
The Vice President is traveling with his wife, Jill Biden, a prominent US educator. It was announced that she would have her own agenda while in the Dominican Republic.
www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/07/background-press-briefing-senior-administration-officials-vice-president