Smith Augustin, Ambassador of Haiti in the Dominican Republic, regrets that after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, the agreements of January 2021 are paralyzed declaring "[...] the President is no longer there, it is no longer the same dynamism but we think that we are moving forward because this declaration defines priorities that are not just paper and declarations and the diplomatic missions have taken it as a roadmap that defines the future of relations between the two Nations of the island," wishing the resumption of the dialogue as soon as possible.

Recall that on January 12, President Jovenel Moise and President Luis Abinader signed an agreement in 9 points on the documentation of Haitian citizens, health, trade, delimitation of borders, security, energy and the environment. 2021 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32758-haiti-flash-9-joint-commitments-between-haiti-and-the-dominican-republic.html

Augustine is optimistic about relations between the two countries because he considers that the authorities understand that the future is that of cooperation in island development, trade, interdependence of borders and other aspects "People think more about shaking hands and moving forward together instead of ignoring or hating each other, we've done a lot and we need to keep moving forward overcoming these prejudices with even more dialogue."

Regarding the post-earthquake situation of August 14 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34600-haiti-flash-post-earthquake-situation-report-partial-assessment.html , Augustin underlines that the precarious situation continues, even if it is not comparable to that of the earthquake of January 2010 when the administrative power had collapsed after the destruction of a large part of Port-au-Prince.

For the Ambassador, the Haitian State has three fundamental priorities : helping the affected populations, thinking about reconstruction and the presidential elections in November to get the country out of the transitional state of the Government.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34600-haiti-flash-post-earthquake-situation-report-partial-assessment.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32758-haiti-flash-9-joint-commitments-between-haiti-and-the-dominican-republic.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32741-haiti-flash-luis-abinader-met-jovenel-moise-in-the-border-area.html

SL/ HaitiLibre