President Luis Abinader had a low profile in international circles since coming to power on 16 August. The pandemic and the economic crisis generated by Covid-19 kept the president focused on opening up the country and reactivating tourism.
Tonight the president will leave for his second official trip after taking power to participate in the XXVII Iberoamerican Summit of Heads of State and Government in Andorra, where he will assume the secretariat pro tempore, which means that the Dominican Republic will be the venue of the meeting for the next two years.
Abinader’s first trip was limited to attending the inauguration of Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia.
The president will travel on the flight of Air Europa UX 088 through the International Airport of the Americas, José Francisco Peña Gómez, which is scheduled to arrive tomorrow Sunday at eleven in the morning at Madrid Barajas Airport Adolfo Suárez.
Abinader will fulfill a broad agenda that includes meetings with King Philip VI; the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez, and the former Presidents José María Aznar and Felipe González.
The administrative minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Pallissa, said that from this meeting, the president will begin to assume a profile of greater visibility in international environments. “It has been very focused on national issues in the midst of the pandemic but as time goes on, it will also play a role in the international debate, and this summit is a space for that,” Pallissa said.
The minister explained that the president will also ‘take advantage’ to strengthen ties between the two countries and entities linked to foreign investment in the country.
“It will also take advantage, being Spain one of our main trading partners, where much of the tourism investment in the Dominican Republic comes from Spain, to strengthen ties with the Spanish Government, its President, the King of Spain and some entities Spanish associations linked to foreign investment in the Dominican Republic, making the most of their move to Europe, “he said.
the summit
This year the motto will be “Innovation for sustainable development. Goal 2030. Ibero-America facing the challenge of the coronavirus”. The Iberoamerican Summit will focus on innovation for sustainable development and post-Covid-19 recovery, with special emphasis on innovation in the health, social, economic and environmental aspects of recovery so President Abinader is expected expose the economic problems facing the country, generated by the coronavirus and share the strategies used to restore stability.
The president has reiterated on numerous occasions that one of the main problems of the Dominican Government is the situation in Haiti, a country going through a political crisis, because of this situation, this may be one of the issues to be addressed by the president because with the international aid can seek a solution to migration in our territory and improvements for Haitian citizens in their nation.
The country is going through the process of a police reform, so in his dissertation it is expected that the president will address the issue of public safety, as well as the generation of jobs and the reintegration of young people who do not study nor do they work.
The president, after meeting with the Spanish government tomorrow Sunday, will visit the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization and hold a meeting with leaders in Spain of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM).
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the summit will be held virtually, and only representatives from the Dominican Republic, Spain, Portugal, Guatemala and Andorra, the host country, will attend in person.
Guatemala will participate in person because it has been the previous headquarters and the Dominican Republic because it will be the next in 2022. Representatives of the other 17 Latin American nations will intervene virtually.