Bilateral Mixed Dominican Haitian Commission to Reactive in January

Bilateral Mixed Dominican Haitian Commission to Reactive in January 

Haitian Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said that he hoped that by January of 2010 steps will be taken to reactivate the Bilateral Mixed Dominican-Haitian Commission which has been inactive for several years. He said he hoped this would take place prior to the expected visit of Haitian President René Préval to Santo Domingo, scheduled for the beginning of 2010.

“Every responsible person in Haiti knows that there is no future, no stability, no peace if there is not a positive relationship between both countries and we rely greatly on your role and you can count on us to play the same role with the people of Haiti,”

Bellrive spoke at a dinner held at the official residence of Temístocles Montás, Dominican Minister of Economy, Planning, and Development whom Bellrive considers to be the necessary spokesperson in the Dominican-Haitian dialogue “due to the respect he enjoys in the country because of his history, his transparency and his political convictions.”  

“Every responsible person in Haiti knows that there is no future, no stability, no peace if there is not a positive relationship between both countries and we rely greatly on your role and you can count on us to play the same role with the people of Haiti,” Prime Minister Bellrive told Minister Montás.

Mr. Montás thanked the Haitian Prime Minister for his kind words and offered guarantees saying that first and foremost among President Leonel Fernández’s closest collaborators “is the desire to help promote the advancement and development of Haiti in all ways possible.”   

“We would like to see Haiti in a process of continuity and change similar to what we have been experiencing in the Dominican Republic since 1996 up to the present. It is in the framework of this process that countries are able to advance. No nation can advance reinventing itself every three or four years,” said Minister Montás who will be received this Saturday by Haitian President Préval in the Government Palace.

Montás, who arrived in the Haitian capital on Friday afternoon having been formally invited by Bellrive, attended a meeting accompanied by the Dominican Ambassador to Haiti,  Rubén Silié and Inocencio García, Director of the Economy Ministry’s Bilateral Cooperation Committee.

“This visit makes me very happy and I say this with total frankness as I am concerned with having much better links with the Dominican Republic beginning with what one thinks of as an opening in the path of communication as each country follows the path of its neighbor. In Haiti, you are viewed with a great deal of respect for your history, your transparency, your honesty and your political convictions,” said the Haitian Prime Minister to Dominican Minister Montás. 

Bellrive, who expressed himself in perfect Spanish, admitted that it bothered him when people identified themselves as pro- or anti-Haitian. “Everyone defends his or her country and I believe that with dialogue we can achieve a positive attitude from both sides of the island,” added Bellrive. He was speaking at a dinner attended by Gerard Le Chevallier, Policy Director of the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH), the Cuban Ambassador, Ricardo García Nápoles and the Chilean charge d’affairs of business, José Juan Hernández.

Also present was Leslie Voltaire of the UN Permanent Mission in Haiti and Raymond Feanty, Adjunct Secretary General for the Presidency of the Republic.
Although he considered the rapid reactivation of the Bilateral Mixed Commission, Bellrive understands that beyond this is the fact that “we have to reinforce other types of links with the Dominican Republic to discuss what needs to be discussed.” 

He added that people like Minister Montás are “a good base from which to begin this dialogue and to see how we can change this image of the relationship with the Dominican Republic which is of great concern to President Préval and his government.”

Prior to the dinner, the Haitian Prime Minister and the Dominican Minister of Economy, Planning and Development touched on issues of bilateral interest such as the upcoming visit of President Préval to Santo Domingo in January and the undertaking of joint, international cooperation and development programs to be carried out along the common border.   

He also suggested the creation of a Conference of Dominican-Haitian Political Parties which he believes would help to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries.