Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, accompanied by Jean-Marie Le Guen, Minister of State for Development and Francophonie, will receive his Dominican counterpart, Miguel Vargas Maldonado, on April 18.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, accompanied by Jean-Marie Le Guen, Minister of State for Development and Francophonie, will receive his Dominican counterpart, Miguel Vargas Maldonado, on April 18.
Bilateral relations with the Dominican Republic have picked up since President Medina’s re-election in May 2016 (see below), with the most recent discussions taking place on 12 December 2017 during the visit of the Dominican Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources for the One Planet Summit.
Main French visits to the Dominican Republic:
Main Dominican visits to France:
After several years of growth, bilateral trade fell 11.6% in 2018 to total €261.4 million. France has a trade deficit with the Dominican Republic that stood at €24.4 million in 2018. France’s economic presence in the country is built more on the presence of major French companies there and occasional large contracts than on stable trade.
The Dominican Republic is France’s leading trading partner in the Caribbean, and its second-largest customer, behind Cuba. Trade with the French Communities of the Americas is growing, but still remains low (€13.3 million in 2018).
Our economic relations have developed considerably thanks to large-scale operations in the early 2000s. Orange, which acquired a local telecommunications operator in 2000, has, however, sold its stake to the Luxembourg fund Altice. The participation of French companies (Alstom, Thalès, CIM/TSO) in the construction of Santo Domingo’s first metro line in record time, from 2007 to 2009, and then of the second, showcased the expertise of our companies. Our businesses are also interested in restoring the sanitation system in several cities. Poma built the first cable-car line in Santo Domingo, which opened on 22 May 2018. In addition, Vinci has been awarded the concession and management of six of the country’s nine international airports (Aerodom). Total has a sales subsidiary for the distribution of lubricants, and a network of 130 service stations around the country.
More than 140 French companies are working in the Dominican Republic. French investments mainly concern retail (Carrefour), tourism, industry (Air Liquide, Arcelor-Mittal), transport (Air France, Air Caraïbes, XL Airways and French Blue), infrastructure (Alstom, Thalès, CIM/TSO, Poma), energy (Schneider, Legrand), pharmaceuticals (Sanofi Aventis) and real estate.
With loans totalling US$590.3 million, including US$475.1 million granted by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), France is the Dominican Republic’s largest bilateral creditor, ahead of Brazil (US$489.6 million) and Spain (US$435.2 million).
France’s cooperation is based on a network which, in addition to the Embassy’s departments, includes four Alliance Française branches, a secondary school (lycée) in the capital, a school in Las Terrenas (northern Dominican Republic), a Campus France office, and an Agence Française de Développement (AFD) office.
The priorities of our cooperation are as follows:
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and its subsidiary Proparco have relaunched their operations in the Dominican Republic and mainly take action in the form of loans to:
Lastly, the Dominican Republic participates in cooperation projects with the French Communities of the Americas in the fields of medicine, French teaching, mechanic training, and cultural and educational exchanges financed through regional cooperation funds (RCF), as well as the EU’s Interreg Caribbean programme, with the Regional Council of Guadeloupe heading its steering committee.
Updated: 26 February 2019