The Dominican Republic should become a trade hub for Latin America and the Caribbean and has the potential to become a logistics centre for Ukrainian exports to the region. This was discussed during a meeting between Raquel Peña, Vice President of the Dominican Republic, and Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, during the working visit of the Ukrainian delegation.

This is the first working visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the Dominican Republic in the last 22 years.

“Strengthening economic cooperation was one of the key issues on the agenda. Today, the Dominican Republic is the second largest country in the region in terms of imports from Ukraine. Last year, the trade turnover between our countries reached USD 38.73 million, which is 54% of the total. This is 54% of the 2022 figure. The positive balance for Ukraine was USD 21.07 million. And in the first 6 months of 2024, exports have already totalled USD 32 million. Semi-finished products made of unalloyed steel remain the main export item. However, we have the potential to increase bilateral trade. According to the Vice President of the Dominican Republic, this country can become a logistics hub for Ukrainian exports in the region,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The countries agreed to consider ways to increase the supply of Ukrainian goods. Currently, the Dominican Republic has a population of about 11.5 million people, and almost as many tourists visit the country every year. Therefore, the main area of cooperation between Ukraine and the Dominican Republic in the economic sphere is the agricultural industry and the food sector. The country is interested in supplying Ukrainian food products, equipment for the food industry, and transferring relevant production technologies.

The parties agreed to establish cooperation at the level of Chambers of Commerce and Industry for further business forums and B2B cooperation.

In addition, Yuliia Svyrydenko thanked the Dominican Republic for participating in the first Global Peace Summit and invited it to join the working groups on such items of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula as food security, as well as radiation and nuclear safety.

As noted in the First Deputy Prime Minister’s column for a media outlet, following a working visit of the Ukrainian delegation to Latin America in May, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay joined the first Global Peace Summit. In addition, Argentina became a member of the international coalition for the return of Ukrainian children.

“Over the past year, since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s first visit to Latin America, our cooperation with the region has been systematically deepening. This includes humanitarian aid, support for Ukrainian forced migrants, support for Ukraine in the international arena, and deepening cooperation between businesses. We are even working on a Ukraine-Latin America summit. Promoting the Ukrainian agenda and weakening the russian lobby in the region is a systemic task that consistently yields results,” summed up Yuliia Svyrydenko.