Trade Watch V9 No3 2015

EXPORT DEVELOPMENT

Enhancing Trade between Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Two countries that are striving forward in terms of trade and business development are Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They are two of five countries in the Caribbean that have successfully increased their ranking on the Global Competitiveness Report for 2014-2015 published by the World Economic Forum recently. Haiti is reported to have climbed 6 positions since 2013-14 and the Dominican Republic 3, but over the past 5 years the Dominican Republic has consistently increased its rankings each period climbing a total of 9 positions. The results are a great indicator that both countries are very much open for business and their focus on trade and development are reaping rewards. In 2012 the 10th EDF Haiti-DR Bi-National Programme was established topromote the development of Haiti and theDominican Republic (DR) ultimately to reduce poverty through supporting regional integration and sustainable development in the two countries. The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) was entrusted by Haiti, the DR and the European Union (EU) with the implementation of the Bi-National Programme’s trade component. The programme, which will wrap up in 2016, received the financial contribution of €7,200,000 and the Agency has been activelyworkingwith the EU and the National Authorizing Officers of Haiti and the Dominican Republic to foster cooperation and synergies between the Ministries of Trade and industry, the Investment Promotion Agencies, the Customs Directorates and the Private Sector of both countries. Caribbean Export has supported the development of 9 different cooperation agreements between the various actors of the programme including the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Dominican Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce of Haiti, which is bound to facilitate cooperation between the private sectors of both countries. Central to trade between the two countries is the strengthening of their capacity with the introduction and implementation of trade policies and regulations by the respective Ministries of Trade and Industry. In particular the Agency has facilitated the increased communication and supported the modernization processes of customs administration promoting their interconnectivity. For the first time in history, the respective

R-L: Deputy Executive Director of Caribbean Export, Escipion Olivera with Mr. Pedro Pérez, President of FEDOCAMARAS and Mrs. Carline Joseph, President of Chamber of Commerce in Haiti

Directorates of Customs (DGD and DGA) engaged in a healthy and productive dialogue which resulted in a joint training programme conducted by the “World Customs Organisation” in which 68 experts where trained in the revised Kyoto Protocol; Estimating Value of Merchandise; and Harmonized System and Tariff Management. Thus, the programme encourages greater commercial dialogue and the improvement of trade monitoring systems at the countries’ borders for governmental policy development. This contributes also towards the identification and elimination of unnecessary trade barriers and enables bilateral trade certifications to be developed together with mechanisms to settle disputes. In this sense, the programme aims, among others is to promote two-way trade between the two countries. Since the start of the programme almost 600 private sector firms and Business Support Organisations (BSOs) have benefited from the programme and the Agency continues to work closely with the Ministries of Industry and Trade (MCI-Haiti / MIC-RD) and their respective Foreign Trade Directorates DCE (Haiti) and DICOEX (DR). Caribbean Export has executed a number of export promotion initiatives to support export trade and raise visibility. For example in March 2014 a delegation from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Industries of Haiti was supported to attend International Travel Berlin (ITB) where they were able to successfully re-position Haiti’s tourism

Members of the 10th EDF Hait-DR Binational Programme Team

3 Tradewatch • The Official E-Newsletter of the Caribbean Export Development Agency • Vol.9 No. 3, 2015