Dominican Republic leader chills on Haiti visit

Santo Domingo.- Foreign minister Andres Navarro said Monday thatthe date for Haiti presidents Michel Martelly and Dominican counterpart DaniloMedina to meet has yet to be decided.

The official´s announcementcomes after several sectors criticized the government´s apparent anxiousnessfor the summit despite concern for Medina´s safety in Haiti.

Navarro said during thenext 15 days each country´s economic sector is carrying out internal talks priorto setting the date, noting that trade relations figure among the topics agreedin the cabinet-level meeting.

In Dominican Republic´scase talks have been held with merchants at the various border towns and ameeting with business leaders is set for this week.

He said after that thedate for the binational meeting at the ministerial level will be established,to assess the feasibility of Medina’s visit to Haiti. “We expect that the Haitiansare doing the same.”

He said the main reasonfor Medina to meet with Martelly is to get Haiti to lift its continuing ban onthe entry overland of 23 Dominican products.

New envoy

Navarro also confirmedPort-au-Prince´s request of Santo Domingo´s placet for ambassador-designee MagaliMaglore.