The events that took place after the worsening of the immigration crisis in the United States, taken advantage of by the President of Mexico, Andrés Manual López Obrador, to gain regional leadership in addressing the migratory problem in his country and Central America and the Caribbean (on the basis that the solution to the migratory problem should be based on helping the countries that send migrants so that conditions are generated in their countries that do not encourage migrants to their citizens to emigrate), seem to be mere coincidences, but in the case of Cuba they actually constitute a movement of pieces on the chessboard that leads to Cuban imports beginning to flow, at least to those of food.

The Dominican Republic has understood the situation and wants to take advantage of it.

It was no coincidence that in September 2023 a delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez, made an official visit to the Republic of Cuba, where it held meetings and working visits that served both countries to identify bilateral cooperation, trade and other types of collaboration projects, for the benefit of both peoples.

Nor was it a coincidence that later, in the same month of September, President Luis Abinader visited Cuba to participate in the assembly of the Group of 77 and China.

Likewise, it was no coincidence that the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, visited Cuba at the end of last month to participate in the 69th edition of the meeting of the UN-Tourism Regional Commission for the Americas, where he advocated for the joint work of the nations of the region to enhance the tourism sector.

Collado’s visit was taken advantage of by the Cuban Minister of Tourism, Juan Carlos García Granda, to deliver to the Dominican Republic a proposal to explore opportunities for multi-destination tourism, which can be of great benefit to both nations, as it presents the opportunity to position the region as an option for multi-destination travel and attract new markets as the development and promotion of natural attributes is deepened. historical and cultural history of each country.

In addition, multi-destination brings more interregional trade, which takes advantage of greater air and sea connectivity and lower transportation costs.

A clue as to where the movement of chips is leading is also given by the Fifth U.S.-Cuba Agricultural Conference, which ended this Wednesday at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba and in the framework of which U.S. businessmen, farmers and politicians who are committed to normalizing relations between Havana and Washington and developing agricultural exchange.

When this was happening, information had already been released that the Government of Cuba had completed the certification of three Dominican poultry companies, which were formally endorsed to sell chickens, eggs and processed foods that will supply part of the Caribbean nation’s consumption.

This process had begun with the rapprochement between the two countries through one of those companies, which began exporting eggs to the neighboring island after the closure of the border with Haiti in September 2023.

The national poultry industry closed 2023 with a production of more than 432,000 tons of chickens and more than 3,000 million eggs, and assures that it is able to further increase its production for export.

There are new reasons to think about the Cuban market: Western Union announced the resumption of remittances from the United States to Cuba, which constitute one of the island’s main sources of foreign exchange income to finance its imports.

The system had been at a standstill for three months, forcing Cubans to look for more expensive alternatives.

In addition, the U.S. State Department has just removed Cuba from the list of countries that are not fully cooperating with U.S. counterterrorism efforts because the circumstances determining that certification “changed between 2022 and 2023.”

In other words, there are reasons for the Dominican Republic to take advantage of its agricultural and industrial development to increase its exports to the Cuban market, especially in the export of food. And everything seems to indicate that, stimulated by a friendlier environment, we are working on it.