Bilateral
trade between the Dominican Republic and Haiti estimated at
over US$27m
Monday, July 4, 2005
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican
Republic: The Dominican Republic ambassador to Haiti, José
Serulle Ramia, has said that annual trade between the two
countries sharing the Caribbean island of Hispaniola totaled
over US 27 million, and went on to state that “this year,
that figure is over 20 percent more than in 2004.
“The renewed vitality of
trade along the Dominican-Haitian border is indicative of this
increase,” added the Ambassador.
The diplomat explained that
Dominican Republic’s exports to Haiti include, amongst other
products, significant amounts of plantains, eggs,
semi-processed products, potatoes, and milk. Serulle
highlighted that 30 percent of chicken raisers in the north
depended heavily on exports to the neighboring country.
"I visit towns and
markets in Haiti, and I can assure you that an important share
of the products that are sold there comes from our Dominican
Republic,” declared Ambassador Serulle as he prepared to
board an aircraft at Las Américas International Airport en
route to Madrid on an official visit.
The Ambassador described
relations between the two neighbors as “excellent” and
termed the violent incidents involving Dominicans and
Haitians, especially in the northwestern provinces of the
Dominican Republic, as “isolated events.”
In a related news story,
Admiral Sigfredo Pared Perez, Secretary of State of the Armed
Forces of the Dominican Republic, informed the press that the
Dominican authorities had delivered several fugitives to their
counterparts in Haiti, who had presumably managed to escape
from Haitian jails.
A former Haitian consul to
the country, Edwin Paraison, denounced that a group of his
fellow countrymen, who had escaped from jail last year and
beginning of this year, may be responsible for several crimes
committed in the Dominican Republic, which have tainted the
image of the Haitian community here. Over four thousand
prisoners may have apparently escaped from various jails in
Haiti.
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