NewsWhore
07-12-2010, 01:40 PM
President Leonel Fernandez spent the night at Blair House prior to his working meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House today, as reported in Listin Diario. The US government declared that the "US enjoys a long and close relationship with the DR and Dominicans have made important contributions to the United States and to the Americas. The President looks forward to discussing a wide range of bilateral and hemispheric issues with President Fernandez as part of his ongoing engagement with leaders from the Americas on the most important issues facing people throughout the region."
Today's Listin Diario reports that drug trafficking and Haiti are most likely to be key issues on the agenda for the talks with Obama.
Other members of the Dominican government mission in Washington, D.C. are Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, Presidency press director Rafael Nunez, Economy, Planning and Development Minister Temistocles Montas, Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa, Central Bank governor Hector Valdez Albizu, Exports and Promotion director Eddy Martinez, and secretary Marco Herrera, executive director of the President's think tank and university, Funglode.
Other meetings have been scheduled with World Bank president Robert Zoellick and with members of the US Congress Black and Latin Caucuses. Fernandez will also visit the State Department. He is booked for a meeting with Inter-American Dialogue, Michael Shifter and Peter Hakim. On Tuesday, he is also scheduled to hold a meting with Stephen Knapp, vice president of the George Washington University where he will make a speech to the students.
The DR has taken a leadership position in motivating real change in Haiti with a view to reducing poverty there, more so following the devastating January earthquake. The US recently accepted the DR as part of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission. Other members are donor nations and Caricom, representing the Caribbean. The commission is expected to manage US$5.3 billion in recovery aid.
Otherwise, the Obama administration is a strong supporter of Dominican-Haitian rights campaigner Sonia Pierre and efforts to officially change Dominican rules that establish that only children born to parents with legal status in the Dominican Republic are awarded Dominican nationality. Pierre has lobbied for all children born in the DR to be granted Dominican citizenship automatically. In reality, hundreds of thousands of children of illegal Haitian immigrants have received Dominican citizenship, as is the case of Pierre herself. But the previous and 2010 Dominican Constitution disputes automatic citizenship at birth.
The DR maintains a US$6 billion deficit in the first quarter of the year with the US, a country with which it has a free trade agreement, as reported in Hoy's coverage on the visit.
The President Fernandez visit to the White House comes at a time when the US has yet to send its ambassador-designate Raul H Yzaguirre, confirmed by the Senate in March 2010, to take up his post at the United States Embassy in the DR. Yzaguirre is a strong supporter of immigrants in the US. The last US ambassador in the DR was controversial Puerto Rican lawyer Hans Hertell, who was in the post from 2001-2007.
www.elnuevodia.com/callafbiantesupuestarelaciondeexembajadorconelnarcotrafico-656567.html?... (http://www.elnuevodia.com/callafbiantesupuestarelaciondeexembajadorconelnarcotrafico-656567.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+elnuevodia%2Fnoticias+%28El+Nuevo+Dia+%3A+Noticias%29)
www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/July/20100709165144SBlebahC0... (http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/July/20100709165144SBlebahC0.503944.html?CP.rss=true)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)
Today's Listin Diario reports that drug trafficking and Haiti are most likely to be key issues on the agenda for the talks with Obama.
Other members of the Dominican government mission in Washington, D.C. are Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso, Presidency press director Rafael Nunez, Economy, Planning and Development Minister Temistocles Montas, Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa, Central Bank governor Hector Valdez Albizu, Exports and Promotion director Eddy Martinez, and secretary Marco Herrera, executive director of the President's think tank and university, Funglode.
Other meetings have been scheduled with World Bank president Robert Zoellick and with members of the US Congress Black and Latin Caucuses. Fernandez will also visit the State Department. He is booked for a meeting with Inter-American Dialogue, Michael Shifter and Peter Hakim. On Tuesday, he is also scheduled to hold a meting with Stephen Knapp, vice president of the George Washington University where he will make a speech to the students.
The DR has taken a leadership position in motivating real change in Haiti with a view to reducing poverty there, more so following the devastating January earthquake. The US recently accepted the DR as part of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission. Other members are donor nations and Caricom, representing the Caribbean. The commission is expected to manage US$5.3 billion in recovery aid.
Otherwise, the Obama administration is a strong supporter of Dominican-Haitian rights campaigner Sonia Pierre and efforts to officially change Dominican rules that establish that only children born to parents with legal status in the Dominican Republic are awarded Dominican nationality. Pierre has lobbied for all children born in the DR to be granted Dominican citizenship automatically. In reality, hundreds of thousands of children of illegal Haitian immigrants have received Dominican citizenship, as is the case of Pierre herself. But the previous and 2010 Dominican Constitution disputes automatic citizenship at birth.
The DR maintains a US$6 billion deficit in the first quarter of the year with the US, a country with which it has a free trade agreement, as reported in Hoy's coverage on the visit.
The President Fernandez visit to the White House comes at a time when the US has yet to send its ambassador-designate Raul H Yzaguirre, confirmed by the Senate in March 2010, to take up his post at the United States Embassy in the DR. Yzaguirre is a strong supporter of immigrants in the US. The last US ambassador in the DR was controversial Puerto Rican lawyer Hans Hertell, who was in the post from 2001-2007.
www.elnuevodia.com/callafbiantesupuestarelaciondeexembajadorconelnarcotrafico-656567.html?... (http://www.elnuevodia.com/callafbiantesupuestarelaciondeexembajadorconelnarcotrafico-656567.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+elnuevodia%2Fnoticias+%28El+Nuevo+Dia+%3A+Noticias%29)
www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/July/20100709165144SBlebahC0... (http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/July/20100709165144SBlebahC0.503944.html?CP.rss=true)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#1)