Experienced Caribbean analyst David Jessop says that the English-speaking Caricom and the Dominican Republic have more to gain than to lose by improving relations. He describes the lack of understanding that exists between the English-speaking Caribbean governments and the Dominican Republic as a historic mistake. In a commentary published on 29 August 2015, Jessop writes that Caricom countries need to see the DR as a friend, not a foe, and mentions “the potentially huge economic synergies” of Caricom countries integrating with the DR.
Jessop adds that in much of the Caribbean Community, “there is a fear that the Dominican Republic may overwhelm the Anglophone part of the region through its success and drive if there were ever to be a full economic opening.”
He writes that the DR has been filling spaces left open when the Caricom countries lost preferential trade arrangements, and has been more competitive in attracting tourism and foreign investment.
He challenges the perception that the Dominican Republic is a country where most from the English-speaking part of the region would be culturally or socially unwelcome. While he says this stereotype has been reinforced by suggestions in the media that the country is a human rights abuser, he says the fact that around 300,000 previously undocumented Haitian migrants have been absorbed and are not on the path to legalization disproves this belief.
He comments in the DR, there is also the view, usually unspoken, that most in CARICOM have no idea what it is like to live next to the poorest country in the western hemisphere, to have porous borders, or to have once been subject to Haitian control.
He fosters there be much improved media coverage, informal contact between leading members of the business community, and academic exchanges once key election dates in Haiti and CARICOM have passed and says there are examples of strong business relations that could be built upon.
He writes that there are also many opportunities for longer-term private sector and government dialogue. “There is the US$2 billion bi-national private sector Quisqueya development project, which is intended to spur economic development across the Dominican-Haitian border to create employment and stability,” he comments. More importantly, he points to the importance of exploring new economic relationships that might be created between the economies of the northern Caribbean as Cuba’s dialogue with the United States develops.
http://www.caribbean-council.org/publications/the-view-from-europe/