The foreign ministers of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Miguel Vargas and Antonio Rodrigue will be meeting on Thursday, 27 April 2017, in Santo Domingo. Migration, bilateral trade and cooperation will be on the agenda.
They previously met in Kingston, Jamaica during a meeting of the Cariforum, that coincided with the start of the government of President Jovenel Moise in Haiti in February 2017.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations of the Dominican Republic highlighted the importance of the meeting to consolidate and strengthen relations between the two countries who share an island. There are expectations that initiatives will be proposed that would focus on the development of the border.
The ministers will be discussing initiatives for attracting investment, construction of infrastructure and formalizing of trade, the generation of employment in the border region and improvement of quality of living standards for border province residents.
The Ministry expressed satisfaction with the notice issued by the Embassy of Haiti in the Dominican Republic that, starting on 28 April 2017, the Haitian government would deliver the documentation requested by Haitians resident in the Dominican Republic so they can complete their procedures for legalizing their status in the Dominican Republic begun under the National Status Legalization Plan (PNRE) in 2014. Thousands requested Haitian identity documents such as ID cards, passports and birth certificates.
Haiti is the second most important trading partner of the Dominican Republic. The DR and Haiti share a border of 300 km, that is crossed by hundreds of people each day as well as many goods. The border region also endures illegal smuggling of arms and drugs.
The Dominican Republic recently named Alberto Despradel (Chico) to be the new Dominican ambassador in Haiti, replacing long time Rubén Silié. Despradel who was the Dominican ambassador to Haiti during the government of former President Hipólito Mejía.
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7 Dias
27 April 2017
