The president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinaderannounced this Friday that his country will install a network of dry ports in the border with Haiti, the logistics project “most important ever conceived” for that area, with a private investment estimated at more than 300 million dollars and that will operate under the free zone regime.
In his annual speech before the National Congress (bicameral) on the occasion of National Independence Day, Abinader said that the country “already has a border wall to protect” its territory, so now “a true economic wall will be promoted.”
These dry ports will make it possible to energize the border provinces, organize trade, strengthen formal exchange with Haiti, which is the second trading partner of the Dominican Republic, and “definitively close the gaps through which goods leak irregularly today,” he assured.
During his speech, Abinader indicated that in other nations that share a border, such as Mexico and the United States, “this figure (dry ports) has proven to be an effective tool to concentrate customs control, formalize trade and transform entire regions into development poles.”
This initiative will mobilize more than 300 million dollars in totally private investment, added the president, who specified that it is “a strategic decision of the State to strengthen our sovereignty with development and competitiveness.”
Furthermore, “it is a firm step towards a safer and more prosperous future for the Dominican Republic.”
“There can be no stability where informality predominates. Security is not achieved only with surveillance; it is also achieved by creating jobs, organizing commerce and generating real opportunities for our people,” he said.
In 2021, Abinader’s Government began the construction of a perimeter wall or fence that it erects along the border with depressed Haiti, with the aim of controlling the passage of migrants, drugs and weapons.
Just this week the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation of Haiti (CSC/CA) approved a contract worth about $542 million to reinforce security on the border with the Dominican Republic.
The contract was signed between different ministries of the country and the companies Evergreen Trading System Limited and Alex Stewart International, reported the local newspaper ‘Le Nouvelliste’.
According to the newspaper, this agreement aims to strengthen security on the border, which it shares with the Dominican Republic, in addition to optimizing tax and customs revenues, and increasing the State’s capacity to effectively combat transnational crime, tax fraud and smuggling.
