Haitian businessmen invest in DR because their capital is safe
Nonetheless, they also have bureaucratic difficulties for the operation permits.
Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO. Although to speak of the Haitian presence in the Dominican Republic is generally centered on the immigration issue and frontier conflicts, what is important is that capital from this nation also has an important participation in the country in the micro-business sector as well as in tourism, transportation, free zones and fuels, with the GBG Energy Limited owning the sale of fuel through all of the Texaco station in the Dominican Republic.
A diplomatic source confided to the Diario Libre that the interest of the Haitians in investing in the Dominican Republic instead of in their country, the poorest in America and that needs to recover economically, is due to the fact that the businessmen seek a safe haven for their capital.
Also, the source cited the case of the cost of sending merchandise through Haitian ports, which causes merchants to prefer to export their products through the port of Haina Oriental. Haitian mangoes, for example, are shipped out through Haina and Manzanillo, in the Dominican Republic.
I am a Haitian in the DR
Neither the Haitian Embassy in the Dominican Republic, the Center for Exports and Investments (CEI-RD) or the Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce have a register of the amount of Haitian investments in the country or of all of the businesses. Nonetheless, the Chamber of Commerce reported to the Diario Libre the existence of, the vehicle service company Auto Haus and the jewelry store Villa Russo, as well as the Texaco operation, which belong to the Kawas family.
Likewise, the Aparta-Hotel Narai, in the Colonial Zone, and Plaza Kalinda in Las Terrenas, both owned by the Cardosa family and the office supply company Office Clip which is owned by Georges Farah.
There is also Transporte Topp which is Jerry Mourra's'; the Capital Coach Line bus company, Terra Bus, which belongs to the Chatelain family; the airline Tortuga Air and other families associated with Dominicans in the production of pastas and sauces for export to Haiti.
The CEI-RD reports that the San Isidro Free Zone has a company, which is also Haitian capital, which employs some 2500 persons.
But there are difficulties
To start these businesses does not always take place in a favorable environment. Therefore, just as there are complaints and bureaucratic roadblocks for the Dominican investments in Haiti, the same thing occurs on this side of the border, too.
"Families that are in the tourism sector have had difficulties obtaining the government permits. Three years it has taken to get the permits and thousands and thousands of problems for a family that is highly recommended for any country because we know the origin of their fortune and their hard, honest work." This is what Rosa Maria Garcia the president of the Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce had to say about the situation.
She makes it a special point about the Cardoso family, which still has not been able to get full permission from the Ministry of the Environment and Tourism for a tourist project in Las Terrenas.
Another case is described by Hugo Ramirez Risk, the former director of Commercial Negotiations of the Dominican Republic: "We were trying to import a large quantity of Haitian mangoes in order to process them here and convert them into pulp and export them to the European Union, but at a certain time, the authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture felt it was necessary to impose monitoring controls that went further than the international norms and this issue was also turned down and the Haitian mango exporter finally turned away and stopped their project."
Is this due to the fact that they are Haitians and the historical component? "I believe the it was rather because of the corruption that needs to be combated in the Dominican Republic in every aspect, both in the industrial aspect as well as in the tourism aspect. The corruption must be fought and many time the ministers do not realize what is happening in some regions, where the corruption impedes that the investors can install their businesses and create jobs," answered Garcia.
Reports of small Haitian businessmen that have "to pay tolls" or bribes in different places in the cities on the frontier in order to enter the country are added to the difficulties.
The economic attaché at the Haitian Embassy in the country, Magali Jeanty Magloire, recalls how obtaining the operation permit in the Dominican Republic for a company from her country took more than a year and a half and it was only granted after a visit to the National Palace.
According to the report Doing Business 2012, which is prepared by the World Bank, there are seven procedures needed to start a business in the Dominican Republic and they take 19 days, while in Haiti to do the same things requires 12 procedures and 105 days.
The opposition and the difficulties are common in all the markets, but Ramirez Risk considers them unethical and illegal.
"When the Dominican Republic attempted to establish the Presidente brewery in Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Windward Islands in the Caribbean, they "put them in China." They had to contract a team of lawyers, spend a large sum of money, and break the blockade that the regional brand of beer had established because they did not want Presidente beer to come in," he said.
The Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce has some 60 members, and 22 are from Haiti, which is the second largest commercial partner of the Dominican Republic. The organization values the importance of bilateral benefits of the economic relations but they ask that the countries get over the obstacles for certain investments.
The GBG Energy Limited, of Haitian capital, operates the Texaco gasoline stations.
A call for freeing up duties because of positive trade balance for the DR
The CEI-RD says there are 16 bi-national markets along the frontier
The exports from the Dominican Republic to Haiti were for some US$1,7 billion in 2011, while the consul minister for commercial affairs at the Haitian Embassy in Santo Domingo, Pierrot Delienne, says that no more than US$35 million goes from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.
"There are other Haitian families that ask us, since we have the positive commercial balance in favor of the Dominican Republic, why not create certain privileges for the few Haitian items that are imported into the Dominican Republic?"
There is a market of 2,000,000 Haitians here, which is to say, that the few products that come from Haiti, could be sold here, but the tariffs are so high that they do not allow a positive import," says the president of the Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce,
She said that the Gardere family, which sells rum Barbancourt, complains of the high duties. Garcia said that she feels that they should be relaxed.
Among the campaign promises of the PLD candidate Danilo Medina is the signing of a Free Trade Treaty with Haiti, a market that he considers important for the Dominican Republic.
Haitian companies
Texaco
Auto Haus
Joyeria Villa Russo
Apartahotel Narai
Plaza Kalinda
Transporte Topp
Capital Coach Line
Terra Bus
Tortuga Air
Industrial Free Zone
A diplomatic source confided to the Diario Libre that the interest of the Haitians in investing in the Dominican Republic instead of in their country, the poorest in America and that needs to recover economically, is due to the fact that the businessmen seek a safe haven for their capital.
Also, the source cited the case of the cost of sending merchandise through Haitian ports, which causes merchants to prefer to export their products through the port of Haina Oriental. Haitian mangoes, for example, are shipped out through Haina and Manzanillo, in the Dominican Republic.
I am a Haitian in the DR
Neither the Haitian Embassy in the Dominican Republic, the Center for Exports and Investments (CEI-RD) or the Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce have a register of the amount of Haitian investments in the country or of all of the businesses. Nonetheless, the Chamber of Commerce reported to the Diario Libre the existence of, the vehicle service company Auto Haus and the jewelry store Villa Russo, as well as the Texaco operation, which belong to the Kawas family.
Likewise, the Aparta-Hotel Narai, in the Colonial Zone, and Plaza Kalinda in Las Terrenas, both owned by the Cardosa family and the office supply company Office Clip which is owned by Georges Farah.
There is also Transporte Topp which is Jerry Mourra's'; the Capital Coach Line bus company, Terra Bus, which belongs to the Chatelain family; the airline Tortuga Air and other families associated with Dominicans in the production of pastas and sauces for export to Haiti.
The CEI-RD reports that the San Isidro Free Zone has a company, which is also Haitian capital, which employs some 2500 persons.
But there are difficulties
To start these businesses does not always take place in a favorable environment. Therefore, just as there are complaints and bureaucratic roadblocks for the Dominican investments in Haiti, the same thing occurs on this side of the border, too.
"Families that are in the tourism sector have had difficulties obtaining the government permits. Three years it has taken to get the permits and thousands and thousands of problems for a family that is highly recommended for any country because we know the origin of their fortune and their hard, honest work." This is what Rosa Maria Garcia the president of the Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce had to say about the situation.
She makes it a special point about the Cardoso family, which still has not been able to get full permission from the Ministry of the Environment and Tourism for a tourist project in Las Terrenas.
Another case is described by Hugo Ramirez Risk, the former director of Commercial Negotiations of the Dominican Republic: "We were trying to import a large quantity of Haitian mangoes in order to process them here and convert them into pulp and export them to the European Union, but at a certain time, the authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture felt it was necessary to impose monitoring controls that went further than the international norms and this issue was also turned down and the Haitian mango exporter finally turned away and stopped their project."
Is this due to the fact that they are Haitians and the historical component? "I believe the it was rather because of the corruption that needs to be combated in the Dominican Republic in every aspect, both in the industrial aspect as well as in the tourism aspect. The corruption must be fought and many time the ministers do not realize what is happening in some regions, where the corruption impedes that the investors can install their businesses and create jobs," answered Garcia.
Reports of small Haitian businessmen that have "to pay tolls" or bribes in different places in the cities on the frontier in order to enter the country are added to the difficulties.
The economic attaché at the Haitian Embassy in the country, Magali Jeanty Magloire, recalls how obtaining the operation permit in the Dominican Republic for a company from her country took more than a year and a half and it was only granted after a visit to the National Palace.
According to the report Doing Business 2012, which is prepared by the World Bank, there are seven procedures needed to start a business in the Dominican Republic and they take 19 days, while in Haiti to do the same things requires 12 procedures and 105 days.
The opposition and the difficulties are common in all the markets, but Ramirez Risk considers them unethical and illegal.
"When the Dominican Republic attempted to establish the Presidente brewery in Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Windward Islands in the Caribbean, they "put them in China." They had to contract a team of lawyers, spend a large sum of money, and break the blockade that the regional brand of beer had established because they did not want Presidente beer to come in," he said.
The Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce has some 60 members, and 22 are from Haiti, which is the second largest commercial partner of the Dominican Republic. The organization values the importance of bilateral benefits of the economic relations but they ask that the countries get over the obstacles for certain investments.
The GBG Energy Limited, of Haitian capital, operates the Texaco gasoline stations.
A call for freeing up duties because of positive trade balance for the DR
The CEI-RD says there are 16 bi-national markets along the frontier
The exports from the Dominican Republic to Haiti were for some US$1,7 billion in 2011, while the consul minister for commercial affairs at the Haitian Embassy in Santo Domingo, Pierrot Delienne, says that no more than US$35 million goes from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.
"There are other Haitian families that ask us, since we have the positive commercial balance in favor of the Dominican Republic, why not create certain privileges for the few Haitian items that are imported into the Dominican Republic?"
There is a market of 2,000,000 Haitians here, which is to say, that the few products that come from Haiti, could be sold here, but the tariffs are so high that they do not allow a positive import," says the president of the Dominican-Haitian Chamber of Commerce,
She said that the Gardere family, which sells rum Barbancourt, complains of the high duties. Garcia said that she feels that they should be relaxed.
Among the campaign promises of the PLD candidate Danilo Medina is the signing of a Free Trade Treaty with Haiti, a market that he considers important for the Dominican Republic.
Haitian companies
Texaco
Auto Haus
Joyeria Villa Russo
Apartahotel Narai
Plaza Kalinda
Transporte Topp
Capital Coach Line
Terra Bus
Tortuga Air
Industrial Free Zone
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