Haitian Leader Allegedly Admits to Lying to Ban Dominican Poultry
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - President Danilo Medina has allegedly revealed that his Haitian counterpart admitted that Dominican Republic's poultry products are of good quality and that economics was behind Port-au-Prince’s ban.
3 July 2013
2 minute read
According to DominicanToday, the Dominican leader’s alleged affirmation comes one day after meeting with Michell Martelly and Haiti Foreign minister Pierre-Ricard Casimir during the summit of the Petrocaribe member nations in Nicaragua on Saturday (29 June).
The newspaper reports that he said they admitted that Haiti’s ban against Dominican chicken and eggs was strictly economic, because Port-au-Prince loses out on around US$300 million in unpaid tax revenue.
President Medina said that the Haitian officials were the ones who requested the meeting, during which they acknowledged the quality of the products entering their country, adding that they requested Santo Domingo’s help to collect taxes. "They have an economic problem in this case, which leads to estimates that they’re losing three million dollars."
DominicanToday reports that Haiti’s government announced the ban on chickens and eggs from Dominican Republic three weeks ago, arguing the presence of bird flu virus, but denied by Dominican authorities and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
