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Dominican envoy calls for closer ties with Zambia

Dominican envoy calls for closer ties with Zambia
By Webster Malido
Saturday August 18, 2007 [04:00]

DOMINICAN Republic special envoy to Africa, Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, has called for closer ties between Zambia and his country. And Ambassador Castellanos, who is also that country's Ambassador to India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, is today expected to present a special message to President Levy Mwanawasa from Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez.

Part of Ambassador Castellanos' task is to deliver a copy of the protocol to finalise diplomatic relations between Zambia and his country.

In an interview on Thursday evening, Ambassador Castellanos stressed the importance of ties between the regions of Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia in order to accelerate development.
He said since his country was part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations, it already had some informal ties with Zambia.

Ambassador Castellanos said it was President Fernandez's priority to ensure that the Dominican Republic became an active member of the Non-Aligned Movement of countries, especially to strengthen relations with Africa.
He pointed out that the close connection between Africa and his country could not be overemphasised, especially that 80 per cent of the Dominican Republic's population was of African descent.

Ambassador Castellanos explained that due his country's membership in regional bodies such as the Caribbean Community of Countries (CARICOM) and the Economic Free Trade Zone of Central America, African countries such as Zambia stood to benefit in terms of business opportunities and market access.

"We want to promote our country to African countries because by establishing yourselves in our country, you have access to two markets; the Caribbean and Central America," Ambassador Castellanos said.
"In addition, we have also just signed a Free Trade Agreement with the US. So you will also have access to the US market from our country."

He said the Dominican Republic believed it could also have cooperation with Africa in other areas such as tourism.
Ambassador Castellanos disclosed that at the moment, his country was recording at least four million tourists per year while its hotel room capacity stood at over 70,000 throughout the country.

He said the Dominican Republic's recent desire to get closer to Africa was part of President Fernandez's foreign policy.
Ambassador Castellanos revealed that in line with that, the Dominican Republic's foreign affairs minister had travelled to Africa, to work on the establishment of diplomatic missions in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
"And we have announced the opening of an embassy in Pretoria very soon. Our closeness to Cuba both historically as well as geographically gives us a great amount of access to diplomats in Havana that can serve our country from their diplomatic posts in Cuba," he said.

"We also want for every African delegation that goes to Cuba to also visit the Dominican Republic, which is just one and half hours away from Cuba, so that we can slowly strengthen bilateral relations with every nation of Africa."
He said the desire for his country to forge strong ties with Africa was exemplified by its participation at the African Union summit in Accra, Ghana and the Lusaka Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit where he was among the delegates.

On the international stage, Ambassador Castellanos disclosed that his country was presently campaigning for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council as the seat would be due in 2008.
He said it was time that the Dominican Republic represented the Caribbean region, especially that the other aspirant, Costa Rica, had previously occupied the seat which is presently held by Panama.
And Ambassador Castellanos said he would be extending a special invitation to President Mwanawasa to visit the Dominican Republic in his next visit to either the United States or Cuba so that he could personally feel the warmth of the people of that country.

"I wish to take this opportunity to give a special message from my President and congratulate all of the people of Zambia for having developed such a very peaceful nation which is developing at an impressive rate," Ambassador Castellanos said.

"On a personal note, I want to say that Zambia has great potential for tourism development because the biggest asset Zambia has is the same we have; it's the warmth and kind nature of the people of Zambia. Like Dominicans, the people of Zambia are spontaneously nice to those who come to visit and this is the biggest asset a nation can have to develop tourism.
"I have found out that the people of Zambia are very nice people, warm and caring people.

Labels: AMBASSADOR, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

posted by MrK @ 4:39 AM