Danilo says he will adopt "drastic measures" over Haitian ban

SANTO DOMINGO. President Danilo Medina warned yesterday that the government will take drastic measures, which he did not specify, in order to deal with the consequences brought on by the ban imposed by the Haitian authorities against the import of Dominican chickens and eggs.

The President said that the authorities of the neighboring country asked for time, but they did not specify how much, and that the Dominican government will look for a definitive solution to the problem, with an interest in assuring that there is no dependence on this market.

"We have to take some measures that probably will be drastic, by we have to take them," said the Chief of State, after reporting that today the Minister of Agriculture Luis Ramon Rodriquez would meet with poultry producers in order to find some solutions.

"First, the Minister of Agriculture will meet tomorrow (today) with the poultry producers, then we are going to see in which way we can collaborate with them. We have to take some measures that will probably be drastic, but we have to take them," he said.

He said that he did not know what measures they were going to adopt and that they would depend on the meeting with the chicken and egg producers and with the agreements that reach.

Haitian businessmen, and ...?

Medina discarded the idea that it was necessary to close the frontier, as some persons suggest, because "we do not have to go that far."

When he was questioned whether or not there could be Haitian businessmen in back of the ban, the President said: "Perhaps they are not only Haitians,"

He stressed that there are no valid arguments to impede the import of Dominican chickens and eggs in Haiti, and he recalled that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) certified that there is no bird flu in the country. He attributed the current situation to commercial interests, and that "the only thing that there can be are interests on the other side."

Likewise, the President reported that he has still not received any requests for help from the business sector for the consequences caused by this ban.

Last Mnday, after a nearly four hour meeting between officials from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Minister of Foreign Relations, Carlos Morales Troncoso said the proposal made by the government of the neighboring country regarding the lifting of the ban only on meat products and not on chickens and eggs was unacceptable

After reporting to the President regarding the meeting that they had at the Chancellery, the officials told the reporters that he told him "clearly, frankly and transparently that they did not see much interest from the Haitian side."

Previous to this, last week a Dominican commission traveled to Haiti to ask the Haitian government to lift the ban.

The ban was established in 2008, after detecting the H5N2 virus in some poultry farms in Higüey. Later on the earthquake in 2010 caused them to ease the ban, after the Dominican government made great contributions of chickens and eggs as part of their humanitarian assistance.