No agreement no canal, Dominican official warns Haiti

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Government expects that Haiti will not continue building a canal on the Massacre River until an agreement is reached on the matter, Dominican Foreign Minister, Roberto Álvarez warned Thur.

“Let us advance in the dialogue on the issue of the Dajabón or Massacre River in a comprehensive manner, meanwhile, the expectation of the Dominican government is that work on the irrigation canals will not be restarted,” Álvarez said at the start of the meeting of the joint bilateral commission.

He stressed that the main reason for the meeting is to focus on the work that is being started and to take into account that not only the current impasse, but also the contribution of ideas that facilitate the solution of controversy.

“The rivers and basins that have been of binational interest are found in the border area, which, by the way, is being defined as the one with the highest poverty on both sides of the island, therefore it is a population that demands immediate attention if we don’t want the food crisis to deepen, access to health, low educational levels and the lack of jobs due to its consequent social conflicts,” Álvarez said.