Dominican Republic and India hold II Meeting of Political Consultations

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic (MIREX) hosted, the Second Meeting of Political Consultations with India; hea The first edition of this joint exercise to review bilateral relations was held in 2012.

The Indian delegation was led by the secretary for the Hemisphere East Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Saurabh Kumarwho was received by his counterpart, the Vice Minister of Bilateral Foreign Policy of MIREX, Ambassador José Julio Gómez.

Prior to the political consultation meeting, the Dominican Foreign Minister, Roberto Álvarez, and Secretary Kumarheld a productive exchange of views, in which they reaffirmed their interest in continuing to work together to strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations, consolidated with the opening of the Embassy of India in Santo Domingo, on January 1, 2022.

In this context, the Political Consultations meeting served to evaluate the progress of bilateral relations and draw up a work agenda in the areas defined as priorities for both parties.

During the meeting, both deputy ministers exchanged points of view on their collaboration in multilateral forums, evaluated the status of various agreements under negotiation, and expressed the desire to take advantage of the full potential of trade and investment ties.

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Indeed, during the year 2021, the commercial exchange between the two countries reached for the first time, 1,000 million dollars, with a positive balance for the Dominican Republic.

Regarding the scope of cooperation, officials from the ministries of Athings ANDForeigners from India and the Dominican Republic reaffirmed their commitment to expand training programs and the exchange of good practices, which have been a fundamental element in the bilateral relationship.

Among the new priority areas of cooperation, the possibilities of expanding alliances and exchanges in the fields of higher education, oceanography, space exploration, solar energy, the fight against climate change, culture and new technologies, in particular cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, were discussed. .

Similarly, the MIREX authorities took the opportunity to expose the political and humanitarian situation in neighboring Haiti.

In this regard, they requested the Government of India support for the Dominican proposal to extend the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH)acronym in English), in its capacity as a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations Organization.

At the end, both parties agreed to hold the next round of consultations on a mutually convenient date in New Delhi.