This Friday morning, March 28 at the Hotel Montana, representatives of Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Industry, Environment and Public Works, the National Authorising Officer of FED, Jean Edner Nelson and the Delegation of the European Union in Haiti represented by Ambassador and Head of Delegation, Javier Nino Pérez, meet their counterparts of Dominican Republic as part of the Steering Committee of the Binational Cooperation Program, funded with the support from the cooperation of the European Union.

In his opening speech, Javier Nino Pérez recalled that the Binational Cooperation Program aimed to foster the development of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through trade and economic cooperation based on the exploitation of mutual benefit and strengthening solidarity. "[...] It is an ambitious program by the means devoted to it, more than 50 million euros, but also and especially because it is intended to support the process of binational political dialogue and as such affects many area oc action and involves multiple stakeholders in both countries.

Through this program, the European Union is committed to building a sustainable and constructive partnership at teh service of economic and social development of the two countries : the institutional strengthening through a support to the two technical secretariats of the Joint Bilateral Commission, and the establishment of a binational Observatory ; trade facilitation and customs harmonization ; environment and local development in the border regions ; the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure in the border area north of the two countries [...]

[...] This meeting is particularly important to hear from our institutional partners Haitians and Dominicans, for this program be able to fully play its role in supporting the objectives and activities of the roadmap formulated and approved jointly under the binational high-level dialogue.

Be sure of this: I will be particularly attentive to your recommendations, and I know that my 'accomplices' in the implementation of the binational program, I mean the two National Authorising in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and my counterpart Alberto Navarro, EU Ambassador RD, will be equally.

As a European, I am particularly sensitive to this dynamic of dialogue to build trust and mutual respect, build and strengthen harmonious and good neighborly relations, consolidate peace and democracy between the two peoples.

The European Union, the European political project, is in this respect a great adventure in this matter and I think that the EU has some experience and expertise to share in this area [...]

I confirm that the EU is more determined than ever to support this process and even expand its support to issues related to Integrated Border Management (IBM).

Discussions are ongoing about this with Haitian and Dominican authorities to initiate a process, by mobilizing quickly a BETTER European expertise on both sides of the border.

I vow that this initiative materializes very quickly, and marks the start of a fruitful dialogue on border management."

HL/ S/ HaitiLibre