Dominican Republic reaffirms commitment to inclusive, sustainable development at UN

New York.- The Dominican Republic reaffirmed before the United Nations its commitment to the right to development, calling for inclusive and sustainable development models that place people at the center of public policies and reflect each country’s specific needs.

The position was presented by Foreign Affairs Vice Minister for Economic Affairs and International Cooperation Vilma Arbaje de Contreras during a high-level UN meeting marking the 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development.

Arbaje de Contreras highlighted persistent gaps between countries in access to financing, institutional development, technology and opportunities, as well as vulnerabilities linked to climate change and an increasingly complex global environment.

She called for a broader approach to development that considers vulnerability, resilience and institutional capacity alongside traditional economic indicators when determining access to international cooperation and development financing.

The Dominican official pointed to the country’s National Development Strategy and Meta RD 2036 as efforts to advance this vision. The initiative seeks to double real GDP, eliminate extreme poverty, triple the average salary and create approximately 1.7 million jobs by 2036, with the goal of achieving developed-country status.

She also stressed that traditional rankings based primarily on per-capita income do not always fully capture the structural challenges and vulnerabilities faced by countries such as the Dominican Republic.