At the initiative of the Working Group for Haiti from the Florida International University (FIU), was held in Haiti last Thursday, the second bilateral summit of business leaders in order to continue the dialogue initiated in Miami, on September 3, 2013, during the 1st bilateral summit and discuss economic issues concerning them. Representatives of major multilateral financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, attended the meeting as observers, alongside senior representatives and bilateral donors.

Haitian business men and a dozen of their Dominican counterparts, have inter alia provided an update on the completion of a study on the trade flows between the two countries and the identification of barriers that until now paralyzed reciprocity trade and seeking tangible solutions.

Haitian business leaders have also urged businessmen Dominicans, so that they convey their concerns to the Dominican government, particularly in regard to the negative effects of the September 23 decision by the Constitutional Court Dominican, which threatens to deprive citizenship retroactively to over 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-9595-haiti-diplomacy-official-position-of-haiti-on-the-dominican-decision.html

For their part, the leaders of Dominican companies have expressed concerns about the maintenance of the import ban on certain Dominicans products on the haitian territory. The two parties agreed on the fact that any type of unilateral ban was detrimental to the confidence and business climate, and suggested that the two governments establish mechanisms for consultation with the private sector before launching any unilateral action of this kind in the future. The Participants intend to convince their governments to facilitate concrete actions to address these difficulties. Already, several projects able to generate thousands of jobs and substantial joint investment were adopted.

Participants also considered that the Joint Bilateral Commission (CMB) Haitian-Dominican, was a space of sustainable institutional dialogue for the resolution of such situations unlike the Summit of Heads of enterprises, which is a space for dialogue for the identification of business opportunities for investors in both nations.

The 3rd bilateral summit of business leaders, should take place in November, in Dominican Republic.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-9391-haiti-economy-institutionalization-of-binational-business-summit.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-9324-haiti-economy-first-bilateral-business-summit.html

HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre