President Danilo Medina met on Wednesday, 13 February 2019 with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Palazzo del Quirinale, the historic building in Rome that serves as current official residence of the President of Italy.
At the palace, the Italian statesman hosted a luncheon in honor of President Medina and his committee. President Medina’s official committee is made up by Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas; Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo; Administrative Minister of the Presidency José Ramón Peralta; Agriculture Minister Osmar Benítez; Antonio Vargas, national authorizing officer for the European Development Fund for the Dominican Republic, Dominican ambassador in Italy; Alba María (Peggy) Cabral; ambassador to the Holy See, Victor Grimaldi; Mario Arvelo Caamaño, permanent representative to United Nations agencies in Rome and president of the Global Food Safety Committee; Carlos Pared Pérez, special assistant to President Medina; and Roberto Rodríguez Marchena, spokesman for the government, among others.
For the occasion of the meeting with Mattarella, the ambassador of Italy in the Dominican Republic Andrea Canepari contributed a commentary on Dominican-Italian relations to Diario Libre where he observes:
“In fact, our economies are synergistic and I really believe that with the visit of His Excellency President Medina and the talks he will hold with the Most Excellent President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, history and the future will come together to create a picture of progress together.”
Canepari recalls that Christopher Columbus and heroe of Dominican independence and founder of the Dominican navy, Juan Bautista Cambiaso, were both from Genoa, Italy. “Italians and Dominicans together created journalism in this country, strengthened ecclesiastical institutions, brought technology for the development of livestock and agriculture, developed the tourism industry and created art,” Canepari wrote.
President Medina arrived to Rome on 12 February to participate in the 42nd International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Governors Council on 14-15 February 2019.
Read more in Spanish:
Presidencia
Diario Libre
14 February 2019
