Minister of Environment Frank Moya Pons traveled to Haiti to give the formal start to the Transfrontier Development Environmental Program. The European Union through Lomé IV is a major sponsor of the US$4 million four-year program. Moya Pons was in Haiti to give the final go ahead to the 2001 Annual Operations Plan of the program. He said the project is very important, historic and transcendental because it contributes to the strengthening of relations between both countries and shows that the DR and Haiti can work together to promote development. Also attending the event for the DR were Minister of Tourism Ramón Alfredo Bordas; DR officer in charge of Lomé IV, Manuel Cáceres Troncoso; Ambassador in charge of environmental affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Relations Julián de la Rosa; Deputy Minister of Agriculture in charge of sectarian planning, Jesus de los Santos; Jimaní Governor Magdalena Matos, among others. Present for Haiti were, Minister of Agriculture, Francois Severin, Haiti officer in charge of Lomé IV Jean Marie Cherestal; Minister of Planning Anthony Dessaorce; and the directors of the project in Haiti, Marlene Chrysostome and Cesar Lopez. The event took place in Fond Parisien, Haiti, about six kilometers west of the frontier with the Dominican Republic.
