On Tuesday, 18 June 2019, Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado explained that the promoting of maritime resources is an integral part of the nation’s foreign policy agenda. He said he is following instructions from President Danilo Medina to take steps to turn the Dominican Republic into a maritime nation.
Vargas Maldonado and the president of the National Authority of Maritime Affairs (Anamar), Pascual Prota Henriquez, headed the panel for the conference “From the First Fish Boats to the Integrated Management of the Marine Ecosystem, 125 Years of Adaptive Assessment” presented by the director of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), Eduardo Balguerías Guerra.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Anamar and held at the Ministry of Foreign Relations convention center.
Vargas chairs the National Commission for the Delimitation of Maritime Borders, created by Decree 237-18. Other members are the Ministry of Defense, the Dominican Republic Navy (ARD), the Legal Consultancy of the Executive Branch, and Anamar. This commission is responsible for evaluating the state of the country’s maritime borders and presenting recommendations to the President of the Republic.
Vargas mentioned the efforts of the Ministry to attract investment in infrastructure, such as tourist and cargo ports, energy parks, shipyards and marinas, among others. These efforts seek to take advantage of the excellent geographical position of the Dominican Republic and fall within a clear national maritime strategy, he said.
Anamar President Pascual Prota Henríquez indicated that the effort also seeks to raise the living standards of fishermen, prepare them to practice sustainable fishing that respects the environment and move away from past practices that kept the fishing sector backward and exposed to being detained for illegally fishing in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) determined by other Caribbean region nations.
Among the special guests at the conference were: Spanish Ambassador Alejandro Abellán García de Diego; Vice Admiral Miguel Peña Acosta who is Vice Minister of Defense for Naval and Coastal Affairs; Ydalia Acevedo, Vice Minister of Environment; Milton Ginebra Morales, executive director of the Dominican Council of Fishing and Aquaculture (Codopesca); and Rear Admiral Héctor Martínez, Sub-Commander General of the Dominican Republic Navy.
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Mirex
Z101
24 June 2019