The business leader emphasized the need to resume trade activities with Haiti, especially in the construction sector.
SANTO DOMINGO - Faced with the border closure that the Dominican Republic has maintained with its neighbor for the past two months, Haiti has sought alternatives to obtain supplies and continue its construction projects.
Turkey, Brazil, and China are among the countries supplying the Haitian construction market. Amado Gutiérrez, president of the Dominican-Haitian truckers federation, told the media on Friday that Haitian business owners are importing rebar and cement from Turkey.
With the reopening of the border with Haiti to trade on October 11, the Dominican government prohibited the export of cement, metal rods, and electronic devices, to "prevent the construction of structures that threaten our environmental assets," the Dominican government stated.
Gutiérrez assured that the inventory of rebar and cement will last until the third week of next December.
The leader of the freight transport sector indicated that Brazil has been supplying the neighboring country with wood and that China has been doing the same with electrical items and hardware components.
The business leader emphasized the need to resume trade activities with Haiti, especially in the construction sector.
He warned that the Dominican Republic risks losing that market if it does not restore bilateral relations.
Extent
The Dominican government, headed by President Luis Abinader, ordered the closure of all borders with Haiti on September 15, due to the local side's disagreement with the construction of a canal by Haitians, intended to divert the waters of the river that flows from the Dominican Republic.
Almost a month later the Dominican government decided to open commercial activities, with restrictions, one of them being the prohibition of construction materials.
The Director General of Customs, Eduardo Sanz Lovatón, reported on the measure, stating that he had appointed a special commission to oversee border customs administrations according to the new regulations established by the Dominican Government in response to the ban on construction supplies.
According to Sanz Lovatón, both customs officials and appraisers were instructed to enforce the ban on the export of cement, metal rods, and electronic devices, as per the provisions of the Executive Branch.
Cement exports to Haiti
According to a report prepared for the Dominican Association of Portland Cement Producers (Adocem), released last October, 70% of cement exports go to Haiti. The Dominican Republic exports 12% of its production, and of that figure, 70% goes to Haiti.
