Head of State Meets with Representatives of International Organizations

Head of State Meets with Representatives of International Organizations
Santo Domingo, 10/26/2010

EDominican President Leonel Fernández led a meeting of government officials and representatives of United Nations (UN) agencies to discuss the achievements, advances and weaknesses of the development initiatives currently underway. They also discussed those aspects that can strengthen cooperation between the UN and the Dominican government, according to the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

Fernández said the meeting was very productive and valuable to the point that he asked the UN representative in the DR, Valerie Julliand, to plan and attend such meetings more often, up to three or four times per year in order to remain on top of issues and provide keep governmental agencies in step with UN agencies.

President Fernández spoke with journalists covering the event at the National Palace as he left the 2-hour meeting held in “Los Trinitarios” hall on the second floor of the Government House
“We touched on a variety of topics related to achievements, advances we’ve made and our desire to understand the weaknesses and how we can strengthen cooperation between the United Nations and the government to overcome the weak points to be able to continue making gains,” explained the President.

Regarding this, he said it was necessary to strengthen cooperation in all areas of work with the UN, “absolutely all areas.” He added that the fact that they have made such strides does not mean that the process is finished but rather that the process always needs to be improved upon and strengthened.

Fernández said the meeting was very productive and valuable to the point that he asked the UN representative in the DR, Valerie Julliand, to plan and attend such meetings more often, up to three or four times per year in order to remain on top of issues and provide keep governmental agencies in step with UN agencies.

The President explained that a motive for this meeting was the 65th anniversary of the founding of the UN, which is an annual celebration at the Foreign Ministry in the National Palace.

Government ministers who participated on the part of the government are: Minister of Economy, Planning and Development Temístocles Montás; Housing Minister, Vicente Bengoa; Education, Melanio Paredes; Environment and Natural Resources, Jaime David Fernández Mirabal.

In addition, from the Women’s Ministry, Alejandrina Germán; Agriculture, Salvador (Chío) Jiménez; Youth Ministry, Franklyn Rodríguez; Labor, Max Puig and representing the Minister of Foreign Relations, Carlos Morales Troncoso and Deputy Minister, José Manuel Trullos.

For the UN, the Resident Coordinator of the UN System and UNDP Representative Valerie Julliand with UNDP adjunct, Mauricio Ramírez; World Health Organization (WHO), Lilian Reneau-Vernon; UNICEF representative, María de Jesús Conde and FAO representative, Deep Ford.

Also, Edith Rodríguez, Official in charge of the PMA; UNHCR Chief of Mission, Gonzalo Vargas-Llosa; UNAIDS Official in the country, Ana Navarro; Coordinator of the International Trade Organization (ITO), Dabeida Agramonte; the Director of UN-INSTRAW, Yassine Fall; representative of IOM, Cy Winter; UNESCO Focal Point, Julissa Ureña and the UN Coordination Official, Jan Nemecek.