Trade Watch V9 No3 2015

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3 Tradewatch • The Official E-Newsletter of the Caribbean Export Development Agency • Vol.9 No. 3, 2015
EXPORT DEVELOPMENT
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
Enhancing Trade between
Haiti and the Dominican Republic
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