President Leonel Fernandez has announced that he will address the United Nations General Assembly on 3 October. The purpose of the speech will be to express the D.R.’s wish to take a more active role in U.N. affairs, in addition to the necessity to open new markets.
Speaking to executives from the D.R.’s press at the National Palace, the President also announced that he will visit the heads of state of several Central American and South American nations during November, leading up to his participation in the Iberoamerican Summit in Santiago, Chile. During the meeting in Chile, Dr. Fernandez will formally ask that the Dominican Republic be made the site of the 1998 Summit, having secured the support for Santo Domingo as the host city for the event from the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, during his recent visit to the D.R. Dr. Fernandez’s stops on the way to Chile will include Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela, with confirmations pending for meetings with heads of states of at least three other nations.
President Fernandez said that he would probably travel to Haiti at the beginning of 1997 in order to meet with President Rene Preval, whom he will see at the Summit of the Americas in December. Mr. Preval recently telephoned Dr. Fernandez to thank him for his concern over the condition of the Haitian Foreign Minister who was injured in a vehicle accident on the way back to Haiti from Santo Domingo after attending President Fernandez’s inauguration ceremony. During the conversation, Mr. Preval invited Dr. Fernandez to visit Port-Au-Prince for an official state visit.