The head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, agreed on Monday to encourage Spanish investment in the Caribbean country in sectors other than tourism.
Sánchez and Abinader met today at the headquarters of the Presidency of the Government in Madrid on the occasion of the Dominican President’s visit to Spain, ahead of his participation in the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit in Andorra.
During the meeting, both leaders expressed interest in furthering the economic and commercial dimension of the relationship between the two countries and in particular in encouraging Spanish investment, the Spanish government said.
But its goal is to invest in other sectors, such as manufacturing, health, education or services, in addition to tourism.
This visit is the second overseas trip of the President of the Dominican Republic, in office since August 2020.
Sánchez congratulated Abinader on the good progress of his National Vaccination Plan, which places the Dominican Republic in second place in Latin America, behind Chile.
In this context, he demonstrated the importance of Spain in ensuring that vaccines reach all citizens and highlighted Spain’s efforts to ensure that donations from the European Union also cover the Latin American sphere, particularly affected by the pandemic.
The head of the Spanish executive also highlighted the work of the Spanish collaboration with visits to refocus to address the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the occasion of his visit to Spain, Abinader stated in an interview with the president of the Efe agency, Gabriela Cañas, that at the summit in Andorra, he will call for solidarity between countries to combat the pandemic and its consequences. economically and socially, especially in less developed regions.
Following this meeting between Sánchez and Abinader, the Spanish government recalled that Spain has a new cooperation framework for 2019-2022 that it hopes will guide the new Dominican government in its efforts for inclusive and sustainable development.
Sustained economic recovery will be at the heart of the next Ibero-American summit to be hosted by the Dominican Republic.
As part of this week’s Andorran summit, Spain and the Dominican Republic will sign a memorandum of understanding for political consultations through which both countries seek to improve bases to strengthen their bilateral relations.