U.S. earmarks $7.9 million to reform Dominican institutions

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) made available to the Dominican Republic 7.9 million dollars to promote institutional reforms, strengthen transparency and advance in the implementation of a new citizen security strategy.

Usaid Administrator Samantha Power gave the information after holding a meeting this Thursday with Dominican President Luis Abinader, in the framework of the high-level dialogue on institutional reforms that the United States and the Caribbean country are holding.

“I am pleased to announce today that USAID has made available US$7.9 million in new assistance to support the reform of government oversight bodies, strengthen the transparency of the public contracting process and the energy sector, and advance the implementation of the new National Strategy for Citizen Security,” he said.

Power is on a two-day visit to the Dominican Republic, and on this first day he met with the President, with whom he discussed issues such as the reform of the National Police, a matter of particular importance at this time, after the death of a civilian at the hands of an off-duty officer.

Other points discussed were institutional transparency, human rights, discrimination and the fight against corruption, an issue whose handling by the Abinader government was praised by Power.

The U.S. economic support is also directed to the implementation of the National Strategy for Citizen Security, the reform of public procurement and contracting and the reform of the energy sector.

Abinader noted that the agenda of the meeting also addressed issues such as civil forfeiture of illicit assets, reform of state supervisory entities, human trafficking and human smuggling.

To deal with all these issues and structural reforms, a Summit for Democracy will be proposed, announced the President, who before finishing his speech highlighted the “excellent” relations between the two countries.

This is the second meeting this year between the two countries, after another that took place in April, for the strengthening of institutions, cooperation between states and the reinforcement of democracy.

The Usaid administrator will remain in the country until tomorrow and before meeting with Abinader she met with representatives of human rights organizations and activists of the LGBTQ+ community, as reported by the US official herself on her Twitter account.

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