The Dominican Chancellor Miguel Vargas signed last week a contract with Me Paul Reichler partner lawyer representing the American firm Foley Hoag LLP, for the provision of legal advice to the National Commission for the delimitation of the Dominican maritime borders, of which Vargas is the President, in negotiation processes with neighboring countries.

Recall that in a decree dated June 20, 2018, this Dominican Commission has a mandate to assess the state of the Dominican Republic's maritime borders and to make recommendations to President Medina. It has the necessary powers to direct the corresponding processes with a view to reaching agreements in this area.

The decree states that the Dominican Republic has signed maritime delimitation agreements with Colombia and Venezuela. Meanwhile, the borders with Haiti, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Turks and Caicos Islands, British Overseas Territory), the United States of America America (Puerto Rico) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba and the Netherlands Caribbean) are still pending.

At the first meeting of this Commission in October 2018, its members decided to use highly qualified national and international advisers to carry out the technical and legal studies necessary for the proper fulfillment of contractual obligations.

Chancellor Vargas explained that the objective was "to define our maritime borders in the terms permitted by the law of the sea [...] We know that we have started a path that may be longer or shorter, but we also know that we do so inspired by the defense of national interests and always respecting the national and international legal framework."

Reacting to this information, former Deputy Jean Tholbert Alexis, fearing that the maritime territory of Haiti would be violated, urged President Moïse to create a Commission that could work with that of the Dominicans. However, he expressed concern over the weakness of Haitian diplomacy and the Government's lack of capacity to take measures to protect national interests with foreign countries including the neighboring Republic.

SL/ HaitiLibre