A week after the Dominican Republic and China announced the start of diplomatic relations, on 8 May 2018, People’s Republic of China removed the country from a list of countries off limits to its nationals are authorized to visit. The measure opens doors for Chinese tour operators to sell Dominican vacation packages. Now, when a Chinese national arrives to the Dominican Republic, the Chinese government sends them the contact details of the Chinese Embassy in the country, located at the same place where the Commercial Representation Office was in the past.
A group of Dominican journalists was invited to China and was told the formal authorization procedure for tourists was finalized on 7 June 2018. Zhao Bentang, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Department for the People’s Republic of China government, told the visiting journalists that the Chinese government has also given green light for Chinese airlines to look into flying to Dominican airports in the near future.
Moreso, Bentang told journalists the Chinese government is contemplating investing in the improvements at the Manzanillo port on the north coast that would facilitate exports of goods from the Cibao region. At present these products need to be transported to Santo Domingo.
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El Dia
3 July 2018
