The Dominican Republic seeks to be the “meeting point” of the Armenians, according to the presentation of the credentials of Hans Dannenberg Castellanoswho became the first ambassador Dominican to do it.
With this accreditation, the Caribbean country seeks to diversify its diplomatic relations, considered Dannenberg Castellanos. “But also to further develop relations with a country that is growing stronger every day,” added the ambassador.
Dannenberg Castellanos was the first diplomat to present his letters to the newly Armenian president, Vahagn Khachaturyan. The ambassador pointed out the opportunity that the Dominican Republic has to increase its trade, now with Armeniacountry with which he signed diplomatic relations in 2007.
The diplomat explained that Armenia It has had a close relationship with countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), such as Chile, Argentina, Uruguay or Brazil. “We have some Armenians living in the Dominican Republic, but we don’t have such a large community,” Dannenberg Castellanos said.
However, he said that there has been an increase in the issuance of visas for Armenian citizens, who took advantage of flights from Moscow, Russia; as well as the connections through Germany and France. He also highlighted that the diaspora of Armenia it is in countries that have direct flights with the Dominican Republic.
Now with the Russian war in Ukraine, which has affected the arrival of Russian and Ukrainian tourists to the Dominican Republic, it is observed in Armenia a new opportunity for Dominican tourism, the main economic sector of the Caribbean country.
“We saw that in Armenia there is a great opportunity, because the Dominican Republic can be a meeting point with the countries of the diaspora, where there are Armenian communities”expressed in consultation with Free Journal.
Armenia has 2.9 million peopleaccording to data from the Central Bank, and 173 visited the Dominican Republic in 2020 and 234 in 2021, an increase of 35%, despite the fact that there are no direct flights and the difficulties of visa processing.
In this regard, Dannenberg Castellanos reported that the president Vahagn Khachaturyan He asked that the Dominican Republic consider that the visa process can be done when the Armenians arrive in the Caribbean country.
Khachaturyan said that currently the Dominican Republic was placed by Armenia on the list of countries whose citizens can be visaed upon arrival in the territory.
Promote Dominican products
Hans Dannenberg Castellanos said that visits have already been made to different distributors of beverages, cigars and coffee to interest them in Dominican products.
There are also plans to work with the Export and Investment Center of the Dominican Republic (ProDominicana) to carry out a trip to promote Dominican products in the Caucasus region, to which it belongs. Armenia. It is also analyzed to take into account the universities of Armeniawhich offer studies in English and Russian, for Dominican students who wish to study there.
The bachata
To the surprise of Dannenberg Castellanos, in Armenia There is a hotel where every Friday there is a Dominican night where bachata, a musical genre from the Dominican Republic, is danced.
“The idea is that we can develop a relationship between the two countries,” said the diplomat.
