
President Danilo Medina returned on Saturday, 23 March 2019, from participating in an unofficial meeting with US President Donald Trump and four other Caribbean heads of government at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. He brought back promises of increased collaboration in business from the United States. It was later reported that the US government Overseas Private Investment Corporation will be lending to big American companies to do business in the Dominican Republic.
Then on the evening of Sunday, 24 March 2019, People’s Republic of China Vice Premier Hu Chunhua flew in from Uruguay. He came accompanied by 35 members of the Chinese government. The Dominican Presidency said the meeting had been on the President’s agenda before the Trump invitation to Mar-a-Lago.
The Presidency announced that the meeting with the President held Monday, 25 March, from 10am to 1:30pm was to discuss the strengthening of business and diplomatic ties between the two countries and other matters of interest. Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado said this and subsequent meetings with the Chinese government officers is to follow up with the 19 agreements signed by the Medina government in November 2018.
Present for the meeting with President Danilo Medina and Vice Premier Hu Chunhua at the Presidency were Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas, Administrative Minister of the Presidency José Ramón Peralta, and the Deputy Minister for Policy and Development of the Presidency, Juan Ariel Jiménez. Also present was the Dominican Ambassador in China, Bruni Garabito. Also present were: Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García; Industry & Commerce Minister Nelson Toca; Agriculture Minister Osmar Benítez; Economy Minister Isidoro Santana; and the director of the National Free Zone Council, Luisa Fernández, among others.
The Chinese mission was accompanied by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Run in the meeting at the Presidency. Participating for China in addition to the vice premier and the ambassador were: Zhao Bentham, director general for Latin America of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Relations; Liu Xianfa, Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations; and Zhou Liujum, vice president of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, among others.
Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas said the mission members will visit manufacturing export free zones and the Colonial City, and will hold meetings with the Chinese community in the country.
“At present, the trade balance between the Dominican Republic and China exceeds US$2.5 billion, of which Dominican exports to China represent just over US$150 million, so we must make every effort to balance these amounts through higher Dominican exports,” remarked Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ramón Peralta, who is the head of the China affairs office at the Presidency. He said the Chinese mission also discussed the next steps to promote the Dominican Republic as a tourist destination for Chinese travellers now that the Chinese government granted the country “Approved Tourist Destination” status.
The Dominican Republic has had diplomatic relations with China since April 2018 after breaking relations with Taiwan.
Hu Chunhua is one of four vice premiers of China that are high ranking executive assistants to the Premier.
Diario Libre executive editor, Adriano Miguel Tejada writes about the importance of the Dominican government fine-tuning its relations with both China and the United States for the benefit of the country.
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26 March 2019