[From BBC Caribbean]Costa Rica has been elected to fill a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Its opponent, the Dominican Republic, bowed out following two rounds of voting in which they'd trailed behind.Costa Rica received 116 votes and the Dominican Republic 72 votes in the first round.In the second round, the vote was 119 for Costa Rica and 70 for the Dominican Republic.
BBC Caribbean's correspondent in Santo Domingo Jean Michel Caroit says the China factor could have swung the vote in Costa Rica's favour. "The Dominican Republic has diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Costa Rica broke away from Taiwan a few months ago and established diplomatic relations with mainland China," he said. "And obviously many people were saying here in the Dominican Republic that it would be a major factor in the election."
Relief over decision
Costa Rica has sat on the council twice before, while the Dominican Republic never has. Dominican officials said Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso held more than 45 bilateral meetings with other UN delegations to seek support but Costa Rica also waged a vigorous campaign.
The early withdrawal of the Dominican Republic drew applause from the UN assembly mixed with relief that there would be no repeat of last year's epic between Venezuela and Guatemala. They then both failed to get the two thirds majority necessary to be elected to the second regional seat in the security council. After three weeks, both withdrew and Panama was elected as a compromise candidate. Costa Rica will now serve on the security council for the years 2008 to 2009.
Also elected on Tuesday were Libya, Vietnam and Burkina Faso and Croatia.
Showing posts with label Dominican Republic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dominican Republic. Show all posts
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
EU Pledges Aid to Latin America
[Editorial Note: This is report from Dominican Today supports the conclusions expressed in the previously posted Latino Insurgent Analysis "South American Union Becoming a Reality". ]
Europe to present 2.6B euro aid package for Latin America in Dominican summit
SANTO DOMINGO. – During the 13th Ministerial Meeting with the Rio Group the European Union (EU) will present today Friday its 2.6 billion euro aid package for Latin America, to be disbursed over a period of 6 years.
"This dialogue is really important because we have close cultural ties and also share common values; in addition that there is no another alternative, we’re in this globalized world, we must cooperate more closely than in the past," said Germany’s Foreign Relations minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The diplomat and current president of the European Union Cabinet delivered the inaugural speech to open the summit, in which the EU’s financial aid package for Latin America will be announced.
For her part, Foreign Relations commissar Benita Ferrero-Waldner, quoted by the German Press Agency (DPA) said on Thursday "I believe that with this package we have kept our promises."
Ferrero-Waldner cited the commitments assumed in the 4th meeting of Heads of State of Latin America and Europe, held in Vienna in 2006. She and the members of the delegation, headed by Steinmeier, will present the financial aid program to the 20 Rio Group countries’ Foreign ministers before Friday.
According to the cooperation project, the 2.6 billion euros package will serve to finance programs to fight poverty, inequality and exclusion in Latin America from 2007 to 2013.
The funds will also allow the creation monitoring programs against government corruption, respect for human rights, as well as to promote regional economic cooperation and the relations between the European Union and Latin America. The EU’s cooperation proposal will also fund programs of sustainable development and to protect the biodiversity.
"Our relations are not only economic relations or of trade (...)therefore it’s fundamental that we find the capacity to see world-wide events with the same eyes to face the new challenges," such as climatic change, said Javier Solana, the senior European diplomat on Thursday.
The Foreign Relations ministers of the Rio Group’s 20 countries, a Latin America and the Caribbean dialogue mechanism, and the 27 EU nations are meeting today Friday to define collaboration programs and financial aid for Haiti.
After the inaugural ceremony the ministers began their first work session behind closed doors.
Europe to present 2.6B euro aid package for Latin America in Dominican summit
SANTO DOMINGO. – During the 13th Ministerial Meeting with the Rio Group the European Union (EU) will present today Friday its 2.6 billion euro aid package for Latin America, to be disbursed over a period of 6 years.
"This dialogue is really important because we have close cultural ties and also share common values; in addition that there is no another alternative, we’re in this globalized world, we must cooperate more closely than in the past," said Germany’s Foreign Relations minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The diplomat and current president of the European Union Cabinet delivered the inaugural speech to open the summit, in which the EU’s financial aid package for Latin America will be announced.
For her part, Foreign Relations commissar Benita Ferrero-Waldner, quoted by the German Press Agency (DPA) said on Thursday "I believe that with this package we have kept our promises."
Ferrero-Waldner cited the commitments assumed in the 4th meeting of Heads of State of Latin America and Europe, held in Vienna in 2006. She and the members of the delegation, headed by Steinmeier, will present the financial aid program to the 20 Rio Group countries’ Foreign ministers before Friday.
According to the cooperation project, the 2.6 billion euros package will serve to finance programs to fight poverty, inequality and exclusion in Latin America from 2007 to 2013.
The funds will also allow the creation monitoring programs against government corruption, respect for human rights, as well as to promote regional economic cooperation and the relations between the European Union and Latin America. The EU’s cooperation proposal will also fund programs of sustainable development and to protect the biodiversity.
"Our relations are not only economic relations or of trade (...)therefore it’s fundamental that we find the capacity to see world-wide events with the same eyes to face the new challenges," such as climatic change, said Javier Solana, the senior European diplomat on Thursday.
The Foreign Relations ministers of the Rio Group’s 20 countries, a Latin America and the Caribbean dialogue mechanism, and the 27 EU nations are meeting today Friday to define collaboration programs and financial aid for Haiti.
After the inaugural ceremony the ministers began their first work session behind closed doors.
AP Reports: U.S. losing Caribbean clout
[Editorial Note: This report published by the Sun-Sentinel touches upon the smae developments covered in the previous Latino Insurgent analysis report "South American Union Becoming a Reality." This is of course only compounded by the EU's renewed interest in the region see upcoming report "EU Pledges Aid to Latin America & Caribbean"
U.S. losing Caribbean clout
By Jonathan M. Katz
The Associated Press
April 17, 2007
The United States neglects its Caribbean neighbors and is losing influence in the region to China and Venezuela, a U.S. Congress member visiting the islands said Monday.
U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat and chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said officials in Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago feel Washington ignores the region and are looking elsewhere for investment and aid.
"The people there are begging us to be engaged. By our neglect, other countries operating in their own self-interest will move in and fill the void," Engel said by phone from Trinidad.
During a four-day Caribbean trip, Engel and four other congressional Democrats met with Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning and toured a Grenada medical school that draws a large number of U.S. students.
The other members of the delegation were Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee of California, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Yvette Clarke of New York.
In Grenada, the delegation stopped by a $40 million cricket stadium financed by China and rebuilt by Chinese workers after it was damaged in a 2004 hurricane.
"They built the whole place. They're moving in," said Engel, whose Bronx district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants.
U.S. aid to the Caribbean declined by more than a third in the 1990s and stayed low for most of this decade, the Congressional Research Service reported in 2005.
Though funding has risen since -- the White House requested $316 million in 2006 -- the majority of that assistance goes to Haiti.
Meanwhile, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has gained popularity offering low-cost, long-term financing for oil. China has dramatically increased investment in the region and recently asked to join the Inter-American Development Bank.
Chavez received a warm reception when he visited Haiti last month. And in March, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez chastised Washington for having abandoned his country in its fight against surging cocaine traffic.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
U.S. losing Caribbean clout
By Jonathan M. Katz
The Associated Press
April 17, 2007
The United States neglects its Caribbean neighbors and is losing influence in the region to China and Venezuela, a U.S. Congress member visiting the islands said Monday.
U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat and chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said officials in Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago feel Washington ignores the region and are looking elsewhere for investment and aid.
"The people there are begging us to be engaged. By our neglect, other countries operating in their own self-interest will move in and fill the void," Engel said by phone from Trinidad.
During a four-day Caribbean trip, Engel and four other congressional Democrats met with Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning and toured a Grenada medical school that draws a large number of U.S. students.
The other members of the delegation were Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee of California, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Yvette Clarke of New York.
In Grenada, the delegation stopped by a $40 million cricket stadium financed by China and rebuilt by Chinese workers after it was damaged in a 2004 hurricane.
"They built the whole place. They're moving in," said Engel, whose Bronx district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants.
U.S. aid to the Caribbean declined by more than a third in the 1990s and stayed low for most of this decade, the Congressional Research Service reported in 2005.
Though funding has risen since -- the White House requested $316 million in 2006 -- the majority of that assistance goes to Haiti.
Meanwhile, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has gained popularity offering low-cost, long-term financing for oil. China has dramatically increased investment in the region and recently asked to join the Inter-American Development Bank.
Chavez received a warm reception when he visited Haiti last month. And in March, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez chastised Washington for having abandoned his country in its fight against surging cocaine traffic.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
In Dominican Republic, Worries About Free Trade
CAFTA illustration ("It'll all be mine") by Tito Chamorro L.
Despite the assurances by the Dominican government of DR-CAFTA's success over the last three months, Manuel Diez, the President of the Dominican Industries Association (AIRD) has some doubts. In a recent press conference covered by Dominican Today Mr. Diez expressed his concern that the anti-dumping law enacted by the legislators of the country has yet to be implemented after five years of its passing.
[Manuel Diez] said that as the tariffs are eliminated within the framework of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Central America (Dr-Cafta), many companies devoid of legality seek to conduct dumping to takeover markets jeopardizing local companies.
Diez' fears are sound and rest upon the experience of other Free Trade signatories who have seem a marked drop in manufacturing and industrial production due to a flood of surplus American products.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Dominican Republic "will become a sort of Puerto Rico" under CAFTA
Dr. Emilio Cordero Michel, Vice President of the Dominican Academy of Sciences and a respected economist and historian, warned attendees of a panel discussion held on March 17, 2007 that the Dominican Republic would quickly find itself "with poverty and problems that we will never be able to solve”.
The warning came amid wild speculation by the country's President who hailed the the signing of the CAFTA agreement as the beginning of a road to competitiveness with the rest of the world. Dr. Cordero Michele however believes that CAFTA will only turn the Dominican Republic into another Puerto Rico. He said, "This means we will become a sort of Puerto Rico with a flag, coat of arms and anthem, but a sub-colony, producing only Free Trade Zones".
The Dominican Customs Agency announced on April 8th that although custom collections were on the rise thanks to CAFTA, there was a total income loss of RD$34,206,434.16 (that's in Dominican Pesos)for the first quarter of 2007(January -March) due to the loss of import tariffs.
Sources: Dominican Today [1] [2]
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Dominican Republic Documentary from the Discovery Channel
This is not a particularly in-depth look at life in the Dominican Republic but it does present much more than most documentaries which look more like travel videos than actual documentary works. Poverty is perhaps the central theme here. Enjoy.
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