The Dominican Republic is poised to become a trade hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, with the potential to serve as a logistics center for Ukrainian exports in the region. This was discussed during a meeting between the Vice President of the Dominican Republic, Raquel Peña, and the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, along with Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, Taras Kachka, during a working visit by the Ukrainian delegation.
This is the first working visit by a Ukrainian delegation to the Dominican Republic in 22 years.
'Economic cooperation enhancement was one of the key issues on the agenda. Currently, the Dominican Republic is the second largest importer of Ukrainian goods in the region. Last year, trade turnover between our countries reached $38.73 million, which is 54% of the 2022 level. Ukraine had a positive trade balance of $21.07 million. In the first six months of 2024 alone, exports have already amounted to $32 million. The main export commodity remains semi-finished products of non-alloy steel. However, we see potential for strengthening bilateral trade. As the Vice President of the Dominican Republic noted, this country could become a logistics hub for Ukrainian exports in the region,' said Yulia Svyrydenko.
The countries agreed to explore ways to increase the supply of Ukrainian goods. Currently, the population of the Dominican Republic is about 11.5 million, with almost as many tourists visiting the country annually. Therefore, the primary area of cooperation between Ukraine and the Dominican Republic in the economic sphere in the near future is agriculture and the food industry. The Dominican Republic is interested in importing Ukrainian food products, food industry equipment, and relevant production technologies.
The parties also agreed to establish cooperation at the level of Chambers of Commerce and Industry to organize business forums and facilitate B2B cooperation.
Additionally, Yulia Svyrydenko thanked the Dominican Republic for participating in the First Global Peace Summit and invited them to join working groups on key points of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Peace Formula, such as food security and radiation and nuclear safety.
As a reminder, in a column by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Interfax, it was noted that as a result of the Ukrainian delegation's working visit to Latin America in May, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay joined the First Global Peace Summit. Additionally, Argentina became a member of the international coalition for the return of Ukrainian children.
'Over the past year, since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's first visit to Latin America, our cooperation with the region has systematically deepened. This includes humanitarian aid, support for Ukrainian forced migrants, support for Ukraine on the international stage, and the strengthening of business cooperation. We are even working on a Ukraine-Latin America summit. Advancing the Ukrainian agenda and weakening Russian lobbying in the region is a systematic task that is consistently yielding results,' concluded Yulia Svyrydenko.
