Dominican Republic and Ecuador agree to start talks to evaluate possible exploitation of natural gas; increased supplies would benefit both nations

This Presidency of the Dominican Republic release was published using machine translation.

Quito, Ecuador.- The Presidents of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, and of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso , announced that they had reached an agreement to start talks and establish an alliance between the two countries, aimed at evaluating the exploitation of natural gas and increasing its supply for the benefit of the sustainable development of both nations.

“With the Dominican Republic we are united by a deep friendship and we share the same democratic values and respect for the rule of law and institutionality. We have agreed to start talks for an alliance between the two countries, with the objective of evaluating the repowering of the Amistad field of natural gas to increase the supply of this resource for the benefit of the sustainable development of both nations," said Lasso.

Also, President Lasso stressed that they have agreed on the interest in carrying out analysis and exploration activities and additional production of Ecuadorian crude, with a view to satisfying the long-term needs of the Dominican Republic.

At the meeting, prior to the start of the VI Meeting of the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD), the president of Ecuador said that he had a positive meeting with President Abinader to review the main issues of the bilateral relationship and added that A great day of work awaits them today, together with Costa Rica and Panama.

“On March 25, I will have the pleasure of visiting the Dominican Republic to attend the Ibero-American Summit and receive the pro tempore presidency of this important regional integration mechanism. In 2024, Ecuador will host the Ibero-American Summit for the first time in its history," he said.

And he added: “President Abinader has exercised an outstanding presidency and has set the bar very high during the last period that the SEGIB presidency has corresponded to him. Ecuador will follow the path outlined and we will contribute new topics to the Ibero-American debate”.

Haiti problem

Lasso indicated that he has spoken with President Abinader about the active role that Ecuador will play in the United Nations Security Council and, in particular, the priority that the treatment of the Haitian problem will have with respect to its sovereignty and integrity.

In this regard, he said, both have agreed on the responsibility of the international community to seek lasting solutions that contribute to the democratic stability of Haiti.

“ We have also talked about the interest in starting and accelerating negotiations for a free trade agreement between the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. In addition, we have discussed our coincidences in jointly and articulately addressing the challenge of migration, with a firm conviction to combat criminal structures and the smuggling of migrants," Lasso reported.

President Abinader supports the promotion of natural gas between both nations

The Dominican head of state indicated that he supports and shares the ideas of the Ecuadorian President, in terms of bilateral relations and the promotion of natural gas, which would be a government-to-government relationship with state companies.

President Abinader said that he also spoke with his counterpart Lasso about insecurity in Haiti, which he said affects all the countries of the American continent. He also said that they will try to work together on the problems of illegal migration that the continent has.

In addition, he stressed that in the meetings that he will hold with the president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves Robles , and the vice president of Panama, José Gabriel Carrizo , in the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD), they will try to ensure that the principles and ideas that shared by the four countries can be developed and be of mutual benefit to each of the nations.

President Abinader said he was happy, since they share many of his principles of democracy, development and economic growth.

He also stated that they will work so that Ecuadorian and Dominican businessmen can have a much greater relationship and economic activity between the two countries.

In this sense, he said that a commission of Dominican businessmen, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Industry and Commerce , will meet in May to see some free trade agreements regarding different products of interest to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

Transfer of the presidency of the Summit

President Abinader expressed that he was also happy to hand over the presidency of the Ibero-American Summit to President Lasso.

“We know that he will do a great job, that he will continue the work we have done at the Ibero-American Summit. We are going to transfer that presidency to him during the meeting of the Ibero-American Summit that will be on the 24th and 25th in Santo Domingo”, said the president.

Most of the presidents of Latin America, as well as the governments of Spain and Portugal, including His Majesty the King of Spain, Felipe VI, will be present at said summit.

The Dominican president thanked President Lasso and his cabinet for receiving him at the Ecuadorian government house.

Meeting at the Carondelet Palace

Earlier, President Abinader held a private meeting with his Ecuadorian counterpart Guillermo Lasso, at the Carondelet Palace, the presidential house of the Government of the Republic of Ecuador.

At the meeting, the Dominican president was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Álvarez; the Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza and the Dominican ambassador in the Republic of Ecuador, Milady Cuello de Cabral.