Roberto Álvarez will meet with the Canadian Foreign Minister after diplomatic crisis

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez is currently in Washington D.C., United States, to attend the 53rd Ordinary Period of Sessions of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). During his visit, he has scheduled several meetings with fellow foreign ministers from the region, including Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.

The meeting between Álvarez and Joly holds significance due to a recent mini-diplomatic crisis that emerged when it was revealed that Canada planned to open an office in the Dominican Republic to support the Haitian police in their fight against escalating violence in Haiti.

The situation in Haiti will be one of the topics discussed at the OAS session, as the Dominican government will present its position on the nation’s ongoing structural crisis and the risks it poses to the entire region.

Other issues on Álvarez’s agenda include discussions on the situation in Nicaragua, securing adequate financing for addressing climate change, the Organization’s program budget for 2024, and paying tribute to the late Jimmy Carter and former Secretary-General of the OAS, João Clemente Baena Soares, who recently passed away.

The overarching theme of the debates during the June 21-23 sessions, approved by the Permanent Council of the OAS, is “Strengthening a culture of democratic responsibility with the promotion, protection, and equality of human rights in the Americas.”

Apart from meetings with counterparts from the Americas and the Canadian foreign minister, Álvarez has scheduled a meeting with Brian A. Nichols, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Furthermore, he will attend ministerial meetings of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) and the Working Group on Haiti. Álvarez will also participate in parallel events organized by the Inter-American Dialogue and host a ceremony for the digitization of a significant portion of the historical archive of OAS Permanent Council sessions, organized by the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the OAS at the Columbus Library in Washington D.C.