Ministry of Economy registered 153 international donations during the pandemic

The Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development reported that it has registered in the Vice Ministry of International Cooperation some 153 cooperation donations from March to October 2020, intended to assist the emergency that has generated the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Of the 153 international cooperation donations, most come from multilateral organizations, followed by donations from bilateral partners and international private institutions, 66.7%, 19.6%, and 9.8%, respectively, the remaining percentage corresponds to regional partners ( 3.9%), pointed out the Ministry of Economy, the governing body of international cooperation in the Dominican Republic.

The main cooperating countries for bilateral donations were Spain, South Korea, Japan, and China, where about 63.3% of bilateral initiatives are concentrated.

Similarly, donations from international private companies came mainly from China (80%). The regional partners were the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). Through multilateral channels, the main donors were the agencies of the United Nations System and the European Union.

Of all these donations, 63.5% were made in kind, with the most donated items being personal protective equipment (PPE) and disinfectants, technical assistance, and medical equipment and medicines. On the other hand, technical cooperation donations represent 17.9% of the total donations received, while non-reimbursable financial donations represent 12.8%.

Most of the international donations went to the health sector, followed by social assistance, with a total of more than 40 national institutions receiving these contributions. 56.97% of these beneficiary institutions are public, with the Ministry of Public Health and the National Health System standing out as the main ones.

The Vice Ministry of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development, joins the celebration of the First International Cooperation Week of the Dominican Republic, scheduled from Monday 9 to Friday 13 November 2020, and thanks in a special way the cooperating community that has contributed to the country in the situation of COVID-19.