Prime Minister Seaga said he had an 'extremely constructive' trip to the Dominican Republic. After several sessions with President Jorge Blanco, Seaga left with great anticipation for fruitful partnerships between the Caribbean neighbours.

Published Friday, September 9, 1983

Jamaica / Dominican Republic for closer trade, cultural ties

Jamaica moved toward closer trade and cultural ties with the Dominican Republic as a result of the two-day visit to that country by Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who returned to the island yesterday.

Each country is to establish technical committees on trade, tourism, energy, and finance and on cultural cooperation as a basis for draft agreements and ultimately a comprehensive agreement, which will be formally signed when Dominican President Jorge Blanco pays a return visit to his country.

A release on the visit from the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday said:

“Prime Minister Edward Seaga, accompanied by a delegation of officials and representatives of the private sector, returned to Jamaica today after a two-day official visit to the Dominican Republic.” Discussions were held between the Prime Minister and President Jorge Blanco of the Dominican Republic.

The visit was undertaken primarily to explore areas in which trade between the two countries could be expanded and to investigate the possibility of cultural cooperation between the two countries for the forthcoming 500th Anniversary Celebrations of Columbus' arrival in the New World in which Jamaica and the Dominican Republic are likely to play major parts.

Substantial progress has been made about trade cooperation between Jamaica and the Dominican Republic as a result of the visit of the Prime Minister and his delegation.

President Jorge Blanco of the Dominican Republic expressed interest in working with Jamaica not only on the expansion of trade, but in the establishment of joint tourism destination packages and cooperation on energy matters as user countries of the Venezuela/Mexico oil Accord.

Each country is to name two technical committees - one for trade, tourism, energy and finance and the other for cultural cooperation. The Committees are to proceed immediately with the preparation of draft agreements and to work out details agreements and to work out details for the implementation of technical Cooperation.

A limit of six months has been set for the completion of a final agreement, but such is the degree of interest in its conclusion that it is decided that committees should endeavour to complete their work within three months if possible since substantial agreement was reached on many issues during the two days of discussion between the Jamaican and Dominican Republic teams and between Prime Minister Seaga  and Jorge Blanco.

President Jorge Blanco has accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Seaga to pay a return visit to Jamaica to sign the formal agreement when the committees have completed their work.

In agreeing that Jamaica and the Dominican Republic should lose no time, in moving towards the implementation of specific joint programmes, Prime Minister Seaga told President Jorge Blanco that as the two largest independent democracies in the region, both countries had the responsibility to point the way forward to the development of constructive programmes of effective cooperation that would serve to strengthen both their economies and the cause of democracy and economic development in the Caribbean.

On Wednesday afternoon, at the end of the formal working session between representatives of the two countries, a joint declaration was signed by Prime Minister Edward Seaga and President Salvador Jorge Blanco.

The Jamaican delegation, which included among its private sector representatives the President of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association, Mr R. Anthony Williams, and the President of the Jamaica Exporters Association, Mr Geoffrey Messado, enjoyed a warm and enthusiastic reception throughout the visit. The atmosphere of friendship and understanding between the Jamaicans and their hosts was clearly evident in the tenor of the meetings between the Prime Minister and the President.

The two leaders met for over three-quarters of an hour on Tuesday for private discussions on regional, political, and economic affairs, along with Dr Jose Vega Imbert, Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic, and Dr Neville Gallimore, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Afterwards, the President, the Prime Minister, Dr Gallimore, and Dr Vega Imbert joined the trade and economic officials for a working session to finalise specific areas of technical cooperation.

The Jamaican private-sector team met with members of the Dominican Chamber of Commerce and made a number of individual contacts with their counterparts in Santo Domingo. Consequent to these meetings they reported to the Prime Minister that a high level of interest existed in exploring trade in specific commodities. A return visit by Dominican Republic private-sector representatives is expected to follow in the near future.

On Wednesday, September 7 (the second day of the visit), the Prime Minister and members of the cultural team that formed part of the Jamaican delegation toured Altos de Chavon, a complete replica of a Spanish colonial village, which serves as a craft and cultural centre, artists' colony, and school of design. It was established as a foundation for the benefit of the people of the Dominican Republic by the late Charles Bluhdorn of Gulf and Western Enterprises and is similar in concept to the proposals for the development of Seville in St Ann.

The Prime Minister also toured the free zone, livestock farms, and tourism complex that form part of the Gulf and Western developments m La Romana, 100 miles east of Santo Domingo.

Describing the visit as "extremely constructive", Prime Minister Seaga said on his return to Jamaica that not only was he deeply moved by the reception he had received, but that he had great hopes that Jamaica and the Dominican Republic could build a relationship that could serve as a model for developing-country cooperation in the wider Caribbean.

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