In his speech at the Summit of the Americas, President Luis Abinader warned that three urgent issues threaten the country’s growth and well-being: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Haiti’s current dramatic and the rise in crime.
According to the head of state, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has impacted this and other Caribbean countries more than others in the region.
“We have no fossil fuels, and our economy is a very open one that depends on imported raw materials.”
“For the first time ever, our government does not have a friendly country to help mitigate the oil shock. Supply measures that recognize that we are in a ‘war economy’ are urgently needed, relaxing restrictions.” he added.
He stressed the need to seek financing in concessional terms “that allow us middle-income countries to face this crisis, the most complex of the last century and that is already wreaking havoc in the region.”
Abinader also mentioned the urgent need to create new and creative mechanisms to grant soft financing or concessions, because if this crisis is not adequately addressed, social discontent and its consequent conflicts will increase.
He recalled that, just on Thursday, in a meeting with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, US Vice President Kamala Harris and the Caricom member countries they agreed to establish joint commissions to urgently work on recommendations to be put into effect immediately. He said that in that meeting, Biden and Harris were very receptive and showed their empathy with the region.
On the issue of public safety, the President said that the blows to drug trafficking have generated a reaction from other types of crime. “Collaboration in the fight against drug trafficking must not only be to stop the flow of drugs northward, but also to help with public safety in countries affected by criminal organizations using our countries as bridges.”
At the meeting in Los Angeles, USA, Abinader reiterated his call to the international community and, particularly, to those of the Americas, to act in the face of the dramatic situation currently unfolding in Haiti. “The situation in the neighboring country has gone beyond the limits of a migration problem. For Dominicans, it is a matter of national security, so we will do what is necessary to adequately secure our border, as any sovereign country would do in the face of a similar threat,” he said.
He said it is time for the countries of the Americas to work together looking for solutions, for the United States to set its sights on the region “and demonstrate, once again, its commitment to leading the social and economic development of the continent.”
Source:
Hoy
