Haitian negotiating tactics

[NewsWhore]

Hoy newspaper's Coctelera page two column speculates that the real reason behind the Haitian ban on chicken and eggs imports from the DR is the Haitian authorities' interest in getting concessions out of the Dominican government. The Haitian authorities know that the government is under pressure from the country's poultry exporters who are seeing millions of pesos worth of losses per day in unsold production. Coctelera points out that Haiti sent a mid-level agricultural official to the meeting with the Dominican minister of Agriculture. "The Haitians are savvy negotiators," comments Coctelera. Poultry exports were suspended after a number of cases of H5N2 avian flu were found in cockfighting roosters in the DR. The ban affects producers in Santiago, Mao and Moca. The Association of Poultry Producers of the North Region (Asopollon) said that Haiti is the leading buyer for Dominican chickens and eggs. As reported in El Dia, poultry exports were already down. The newspaper mentions official statistics indicating sales of US$8.6 million in 2006, and US$3.7 million for the first nine months of the year, prior to the avian flu cases.

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