dominican - Haiti Observer Blog

The Dominican Republic could not ask for anything better than its actual trade relationship with Haiti. They are in command of the Haitian economy. Officials in DR just reported that trade with neighboring Haiti has surpassed last year's figure of US$800 million.

This was revealed by Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas in a recent address at a panel on "Dominican foreign policy towards Haiti". In return, his ministry is looking at empowering his consumers in Haiti by improving their economic and social development. He wants to create jobs to improve the well-being of citizens in both countries.

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Two Dominican soldiers were the victims in an attack by illegal Haitians workers attempting to cross the border. The incident took place early this Saturday around 4:00AM IN Los Palos Blancos community in Dajabon. According to the report, a large group of Haitians immigrants were intercepted by the a Captain and a Sergeant of the Dominican army on patrol. The Haitian immigrants who were n armed with knives and machetes turned on the Dominican soldiers and brutally assaulted them. The border agents are in critical condition as they received severe injuries such as fracture of the skull, head trauma, facial and nasal injuries.

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This is either a case of ignorance, total incompetence or where several Con Artists get together to defraud the Haitian government. In 2010, the Haitian Government signed a contract with Dominican firm HADOM to build the Haitian Parliament that was destroyed during the 2010 earthquake. The government gave them $10 million US before seeing any result.

The received the first disbursement of over $10 million from the Haitian government to start construction. Since then, they are no where to be found. When UCLPB went to visit the workk site, they concluded it was a waste of money as not much was done for the amount disbursed so far. The new government of Jocelerme Privert and Enex jean-charles has agreed to have another construction to come and finish the job

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Here is a name that most Haitians need to get familiar with, the Bi-national Economic Council Quisqueya or (CEBQ). Last Friday (April 15, 2016) CEBQ unveiled its development project for the Haitian-Dominican border at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and it is very promising. it is one of the largest global development institution which will be devoted exclusively to the private sector.

The border development project expects to take advantage of the Hope-Help legislation and expects to create over 200,000 jobs at Haiti-Dominican Border in 10 years.

What do you think?

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On Tuesday, December 15, 2015, in the presence of the Dominican entrepreneur Juan Vicini Lluberes and the members of the Quisqueya Binational Economic Council (CEBQ), Marc Antoine Acra and Jean Lucien Ligonde, the first pilot project of CEBQ in Zone 1 has been launched. The project has been funded with an initial investment of $31 million to build 600 housing units for the textile plant workers and 400 housing units for the workers of the finished product plant. This economic development program near the frontier of Haiti with the Dominican Republic was initiated in 2013 in Miami by the presidents of the two countries, Michel Martelly and Danilo Medina. The objective of this joint effort was the creation of 100,000 direct jobs in the textile sector by 2030.

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Recently, on Tuesday, September 21, Alberto Navarro, the head of the EU delegation in the Dominican Republic, has warned that the Haitian import ban on some essential Dominican goods, likes of wheat, corn, bread, etc. would make them dearer by about 40% and the most disadvantages in Haiti will have no option but to pay that high price to buy them.

The ban, a consequence to the mass deportation of Haitians by the Dominican authority, would be effective from October 1. The Haitian government has imposed an import restriction on 23 items crossing the land border, but they can enter by boat or plane on payment of taxes to the capital of Port-au-Prince or at the northern coastal town of Cap Haitien. Last year Haiti has imported around $500 million worth of food items from the Dominican Republic and the figure is 6% of total Dominican export.

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Although, Haiti is a free market economy that enjoys the advantages of low labor costs and tariff-free access to the US for many of its exports, some of the serious impediments to its economic growth are poverty, corruption, vulnerability to natural disasters, lack of proper economic planning and low levels of education for much of the population. Every year, thousands of Haitians risk to cross the Dominican border illegally in search of low-wage jobs in construction and agriculture, and at the big all-inclusive resorts, albeit they become victims of racism and xenophobia in the DR. The marketplace at the Croix des Bossales is flooded with Dominican products likes of carrots, cabbages, and all other vegetables along with pasta, eggs, tomato pastes, mayonnaise and other prepared foods.
Haiti produces foods no doubt, but the majority of its consumption comes from the Dominicans. Haitian cements are good, but it is more expensive than Dominican cements. The Haitian state was never capable to defend Haitian economic actors.

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On Tuesday, August 25, Andrés Navarro, the Dominican Minister of Foreign Affairs has warned that if the conflict between the Government of Haiti and the National Federation of Dominican Transportation (FENATRADO) is not resolved it might aggravate the shortage of food and other goods, which would further worsen the crisis in Haiti. FENATRADO is the largest association of Dominican carriers that represents around 200 unions and 90% of Dominican carriers. We may recall that FENATRADO indefinitely suspended all of its traffic to Haiti from Monday, August 3, 2015, due to the absence of security coverage for its drivers and goods by the Haitian authority.

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As per news report dated August 21, 2015, with the start of repatriations of undocumented aliens under the National Regularization Plan (PNR) by the Dominican Government since Saturday, August 15, the Haitian Foreign Minister Lener Renauld on Wednesday (August 19) has said that simply deporting some people living in the D.R, illegally with undocumented status, does not warrant Haitian authority to accept them as their compatriots. Without adherence to the protocol established between the two States earlier in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of American States (OAS), Haiti cannot accept or receive persons at risk of statelessness in its territory. We may recall that Haiti and Dominican Republic had signed a "Memorandum of understanding on the mechanisms of repatriation between the Dominican Republic and Haiti" on December 2, 1999.

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Following the decision of the Haitian government to put some restrictions and conditions on certain Dominican products arriving in Haiti in order to insure quality and that the imported products are taxed appropriately, many who have been benefiting from the status quo are putting out all kind of arguments to convince the government to go back to its decision. We who love Haiti and want the situation to be changed have an obligation to support our government.

Effective October 1, 2015, a total of 23 Dominican products will no longer be allowed to enter Haiti by land but either by boat or plane. In addition, only two cities are designated to receive these imported products, Port-au-Prince or Cap Haitian.

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