Negotiators for the Dominican and Haitian governments made important advances during the most recent round of bilateral talks. The fourth round of meetings of the Bilateral Commission ended in Santo Domingo on Friday. Minister of Foreign Relations of Haiti Fritz Longchamp told the press that he is pleased with the progress. On Friday, agreements to deal with vandalism, drug trafficking and contraband along the frontier lines were signed. There were also advances on agreements regarding farming, education, culture, health, sports and tourism. The most difficult issue of all is that of migration, but Longchamps said that far from discouraging them, they are stimulated to double efforts to resolve this rapidly. The parties agreed to meet every six months until an agreement is reached. He called out for increasing joint efforts to confront poverty in both countries at the start of a new century, in these days of a modern dependent and solidarian world. He said they would be giving priority to continuing the talks and concertation. He announced that completion of the agreements for the protection and promotion of reciprocal investments, sports cooperation, and youth cooperation. Major progress was made on the agreement regarding the circulation of vehicles through the frontier, restitution of stolen or retained vehicles, with a timetable set for three months to complete it. The parties agreed to continue working on a tourism cooperation agreement to promote the development of a hotel industry in Haiti, train personnel, and exchange experiences. This will be a joint effort of the local association of hotels (Asonahores) and the Tourism Association of Haiti. The countries will increase cultural and educational activities, and progress was made towards the installing of a Dominican culture house in Port au Prince and a Haitian culture house in Santo Domingo. The parties agreed on preparing a compilation of Haitian and Dominican authors. Discussions also advanced on environmental issues, focusing on biodiversity, and the struggle to confront the turning of the land into a desert. Haiti committed to complete the draft of the plan for the managing of the borderline Artibonito River so that cooperation can be secured from international organizations. Likewise, the parties agreed to work together for the creation of a bi-national fund for the conservation of the environment, with emphasis on marine-coastal areas and frontier areas. Both parties agreed to increase sanitary control programs, seek financing for swine cholera eradication program, and modernizing of the farm sanitation programs, as well as farm plague controls. Other joint projects focus on frontier infrastructure, bilateral trade talks.