President Medina, together with Vice President Margarita Cedeno and First Lady Candy Montilla received New Year congratulations from 36 ambassadors, 10 consuls, 9 representatives of international organizations, and members of the Catholic Church at the Presidential Palace on Monday 7 January.
The event, which started at 5pm, began with congratulations from Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez, Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado and Papal Nuncio Jozef Wesolowski followed by the ambassadors’ greetings.
President Danilo Medina set a new New Year tradition for his first year in government. He changed the date of the start of year greetings for the first working day after Three Kings Day that marks the end of the Christmas festivities in the Dominican Republic. In the past, Presidents received New Year greetings from diplomats and government officials on the first day of the year. This year, President Medina only invited religious, diplomatic dignitaries and representatives of international organizations to the event, considerably reducing its duration.