President Leonel Fernandez visited the border region on Saturday for the re-launch of the Bilateral Mixed Commission, a body that was created in 1996 for high-level discussions of matters that affect both countries, but had been inactive since then.
The commission's agenda includes the economy, health, education, security, farming, sports and migration. Both Haiti and the DR agree that the body needs to be a permanent forum for discussing the key issues that require consensus.
Fernandez said he believed that it is perfectly possible to overcome past misunderstandings on both sides, and Haiti President Rene Preval predicted that relations would continue to be harmonious, as reported in Hoy.
During the heads of state meeting that took place at the installations of the CODEVI Industrial Free Zone, the Government of Haiti awarded President Fernandez with the National Pan-American Order of Petion and Bolivar, in recognition for his contributions and expression of solidarity with the Haitian people.
President Fernandez said: "This re-launch of the Bilateral Mixed Commission is an opportunity to tackle issues that are often misunderstood, such as migration, which we can perfectly overcome. This represents the model to be followed in relations between the DR and Haiti".
He sees the commission as the starting point for implementing projects that place both countries on the road to development. Furthermore, Fernandez said that the earthquake has served to restore and strengthen the ties between both countries.
In Limonade, where President Fernandez took the opportunity to break ground for a US$50 million university, he was greeted with crowds cheering in his support. Hundreds of Haitians already study with scholarships, or under same conditions as Dominicans in Dominican universities.
Preval said he sees the DR and Haiti could be an open door to international competitiveness. He said that Haiti is already the DR's second main trading partner. "We need to make ourselves stronger in view of all the challenges we need to confront, be these natural disasters, environmental, economic, social or financial problems," he said. He said Haiti seeks to receive Dominican investors to generate jobs and reduce poverty.
Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive and Dominican Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso also attended the meeting.
The commission will meet again in October.

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