The Dominican Republic and Chile held the fifth meeting of the joint commission for technical and scientific cooperation between the two governments, which resulted in the approval of the fifth cooperation program for the period 2021-2023, which will be boosted through four projects.
The event was headed by the deputy minister for international cooperation of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, Olaya Dotel, and the deputy minister for Economic Affairs and International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hugo Rivera Fernández; Cristián Jara Brito, executive director of the Chilean Agency for International Development Cooperation (AGCID), and the Chilean ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Romilio Gutiérrez.
The four assistance projects include the strengthening of transparency, through the proper treatment of personal data in the Dominican Republic and Chile, to be executed by DIGEIG; technical assistance in the management of irrigation technification projects, and the application of the trust financial mechanism, to be carried out by the commission for the promotion of technification of the National Irrigation System.
In addition, the strengthening of teaching capacities at the level of higher education institutions in the Dominican Republic, to be executed by the Instituto Técnico Superior Comunitario, and the strengthening of the technical capacities of the Dominican Republic in the performance of mining audits, to be executed by the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
South-South cooperation has a special dynamism in the region, recognizing that it has an enormous potential in the exchange of experiences and in the consolidation of good practices, while contributing to promote projects and actions in sectors of high development impact.
In this regard, Vice Minister Dotel indicated that the cooperation relationship between Chile and the Dominican Republic has been characterized by the possibility of identifying initiatives in important areas of national interest, allowing, based on accumulated experiences and good practices, to strengthen the capacities of national bodies, while advancing towards the achievement of the Dominican government’s development goals.
He highlighted the country’s satisfaction with the progress achieved in the execution of the 2018-2020 Program, through which topics such as Economic Cooperation for Development, Child Protection System, Agriculture and Food Security were addressed.
He pointed out that the celebration of this new joint commission is a sign of the great effort and commitment of the government of Chile with the strengthening of the sectoral capacities of the Dominican Republic, and with the development of actions focused towards the consolidation of the management of bilateral international cooperation.
Alliances of yesteryear
Vice Minister Rivera said that Chile has been an ally to the development of the Dominican Republic through the implementation of important cooperation projects in the areas of finance, education, mining and government transparency. He expressed his gratitude for the work carried out by the Vice Ministry of International Cooperation in the institutionalization of all the country’s international cooperation.
The Executive Director of the Chilean Agency stated that this type of cooperation allows strengthening the public policies of both countries in order to mitigate the consequences produced by the pandemic and post pandemic. He emphasized that institutional strengthening is mutual.
Meanwhile, the Chilean ambassador in the country said that this is a great opportunity to strengthen cooperation in the context of economic and political relations and to define the lines of cooperation for the coming years aimed in a good direction for both nations, in order to contribute to raising the quality of life of the people.
The progress of bilateral projects implemented and under implementation in the period 2018-2020, emphasizing the results obtained in the same was made by the head of the Department of Bilateral Cooperation Follow-up, Pamela Polanco.
During the event, the signing of the minutes of the V Meeting of the Joint Commission for Technical-Scientific Cooperation for the period 2021-2023 was carried out by the director of AGCID and the deputy minister of International Cooperation. The event, held at the facilities of the Vice Ministry of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Economy, was also attended by representatives of the beneficiary institutions of the projects.
