
President Luis Abinader said during the weekly La Semanal press conference on Monday, 3 February 2025 that on his agenda for his upcoming meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Santo Domingo is the advances in the organization of the 10th Summit of the Americas in November 2025 in Punta Cana. The event has served as a platform for US Presidents to meet with regional heads of state in the Western Hemisphere.
Former Florida senator Rubio is scheduled to make a stopover in the Dominican Republic on 5 February 2025 to meet with President Luis Abinader as part of his 1-6 February tour of Central America and the Caribbean, his first trip abroad since his appointment.
During the weekly press conference, President Abinader said that there is the possibility of US President Donald Trump visiting for the summit, but this will be discussed in upcoming months as it is “too early to confirm the visit”. Several US Presidents have visited, but not while they have been in office.
The X Summit of the Americas is organized by the United States and the host country. Abinader said that Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez has been in touch with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the subject that is a common agenda.
Also on the agenda is the continuing of US support and increased cooperation for the combatting of drug trafficking operations, given the success so far of the team under the Abinader administration.
Other issues on the agenda for discussion with Rubio are programs underway with US government cooperation. Abinader said that these are not significant and the order is to suspend and review. He did say that the Dominican government is concerned that programs with Haiti, especially food programs, be suspended. Marco Rubio was named temporary director of USAID.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has traveled Panama and El Salvador. He is scheduled to visit Costa Rica, Guatemala, and then Dominican Republic as part of the first trip of the US Secretary of State abroad.
The US Secretary of State has said Secretary Rubio’s engagements with senior officials and business leaders will promote regional cooperation on our core, shared interests: stopping illegal and large-scale migration, fighting the scourge of transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers, countering China, and deepening economic partnerships to enhance prosperity in our hemisphere.
The media is reporting that the visit is more about restraining China’s influence in the region than about local development. As reported in The India Times, Panama President Jose Raúl Mulino stated that his administration would assess whether an early termination is possible of Panama’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure initiative. Panama would be the first Latin American nation to leave the program.
The BRI is a major Chinese government strategy aimed at enhancing connectivity between Asia, Africa, and Europe through land and maritime networks, essentially reviving the ancient Silk Road concept by building infrastructure projects across multiple continents to boost trade and economic growth; it was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.
The announcement follows discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who relayed Washington’s concerns over Chinese influence in the Panama Canal region.
Rubio delivered a message that Trump has made a preliminary determination that China has too much influence over the canal, which he says violates international treaties. Unless there are immediate changes, the Trump administration has expressed that the United States will do what it has to to protect its rights. A company based in Hong Kong does operate ports at either end of the canal, but Panama runs the canal itself. About 40% of all US container traffic moves through the Panama Canal.
Rubio’s trip first took him to Panama where he met with President Jose Raul Mulino. Reuters reported that Rubio watched 43 Colombian migrants who had crossed the Darien Gap, likely bound for the United States, board an Air Panama charter flight back to Colombia.
Rubio, who has ordered the State Department to prioritize ending mass migration, says repatriating migrants creates a disincentive for people to leave their home countries.
Rubio has announced that he is now the acting administrator of the US Agency for International Development but has delegated his authority to another official. He stressed that the agency must align US foreign aid with national interests and comply with US State Department policy directives.
In El Salvador he said that the government of El Salvador has offered to accept in deportation any illegal migrant from any country and house them in their jails. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has argued the fees charged would make the jail system in El Salvador sustainable. Bukele operates an infamous 40,000 inmate jail.
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India Times
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4 February 2025