NewsWhore
12-02-2009, 04:20 PM
After attending the XIX Summit of Ibero-American Heads of State and Government in Portugal, President Leonel Fernandez traveled to France yesterday. At the summit, the President's focus was on drug trafficking and the perils it represents for the DR.
While still in Portugal, Fernandez was interviewed by French newspaper Le Figaro. He spoke of the French investments in the DR, including Orange Telecom, Carrefour, Club Med and Accord, several of which were made following his previous visit in 1998. Fernandez said that the purpose of this week's visit to Paris is to strengthen links with French companies and persuade them to invest in projects in the DR such as the second line of the Santo Domingo Metro and the proposed Santo Domingo to Santiago rail link.
In the interview he appealed to France, Canada and the US to give Haiti increased priority, saying that neither Haiti nor the DR could cope on their own. Fernandez said that Haiti's problems affected the DR on several fronts, including migration, border security, drug trafficking, environmental and deforestation issues. "The international community needs to be more active in investing and developing infrastructure in order to pull Haiti out of extreme poverty", he is quoted as saying.
Fernandez told Le Figaro that his plan was to strengthen prevention and persecution of drug trafficking, and mentioned the purchase of Brazilian airplanes to control the DR's airspace. The President said that on an international level, the DR cooperates with Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti and the US in the fight against drug trafficking, adding that the DR wishes to cooperate with Europe too. He said France could help by providing equipment to reinforce prevention.
Fernandez said the DR has suffered because of its strategic geographical position, which has made it a major shipping point for drugs produced in the south to reach the north. Furthermore, he said that this created an internal market, with all the criminal activity that this entails.
As for the two French nationals held in a Dominican jail on drug charges, Fernandez said that the Dominican authorities had given their political consent for them to be repatriated, and that the legal process was currently under way.
Read the article (in French) at: www.lefigaro.fr (http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2009/12/01/01003-20091201ARTFIG00590-l-europe-doit-normaliser-ses-relations-avec-cuba-.php)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
While still in Portugal, Fernandez was interviewed by French newspaper Le Figaro. He spoke of the French investments in the DR, including Orange Telecom, Carrefour, Club Med and Accord, several of which were made following his previous visit in 1998. Fernandez said that the purpose of this week's visit to Paris is to strengthen links with French companies and persuade them to invest in projects in the DR such as the second line of the Santo Domingo Metro and the proposed Santo Domingo to Santiago rail link.
In the interview he appealed to France, Canada and the US to give Haiti increased priority, saying that neither Haiti nor the DR could cope on their own. Fernandez said that Haiti's problems affected the DR on several fronts, including migration, border security, drug trafficking, environmental and deforestation issues. "The international community needs to be more active in investing and developing infrastructure in order to pull Haiti out of extreme poverty", he is quoted as saying.
Fernandez told Le Figaro that his plan was to strengthen prevention and persecution of drug trafficking, and mentioned the purchase of Brazilian airplanes to control the DR's airspace. The President said that on an international level, the DR cooperates with Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti and the US in the fight against drug trafficking, adding that the DR wishes to cooperate with Europe too. He said France could help by providing equipment to reinforce prevention.
Fernandez said the DR has suffered because of its strategic geographical position, which has made it a major shipping point for drugs produced in the south to reach the north. Furthermore, he said that this created an internal market, with all the criminal activity that this entails.
As for the two French nationals held in a Dominican jail on drug charges, Fernandez said that the Dominican authorities had given their political consent for them to be repatriated, and that the legal process was currently under way.
Read the article (in French) at: www.lefigaro.fr (http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2009/12/01/01003-20091201ARTFIG00590-l-europe-doit-normaliser-ses-relations-avec-cuba-.php)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)