Italian Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Giorgio Silli, went on a diplomatic mission to the Dominican Republic to co-chair together with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, José Julio Gomez, the second session of the Political Dialogue Mechanism – the main forum for consultation between Rome and Santo Domingo, inaugurated in 2022 to boost the countries’ bilateral relationship in the many areas of cooperation.
During the meeting, the main bilateral issues were reviewed: political and economic relations, cultural initiatives, possible synergies in the aerospace sector, collaborations in support of the Dominican diplomatic career, and “legal diplomacy” initiatives to fight organised crime and corruption.
Silli and Gomez also discussed the reform of the UN Security Council and reviewed their countries’ candidacies on the international scene, including Rome’s candidacy for EXPO 2030, which was also promoted during Silli’s later meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alvarez. Silli and Gomez then took stock of the ongoing crisis in Haiti and the regional integration process.
During his visit, Undersecretary Silli met with representatives of the Italian community and joined high-ranking Dominican authorities on board the “Amerigo Vespucci” training ship, moored in Santo Domingo as part of the round-the-world voyage started last 1 July from Genoa. “The relations between Italy and the Dominican Republic,” said the Undersecretary during the meeting aboard the Vespucci, “which are already marked by a solid and historic friendship, by a peculiar political and economic dynamism, and by a marked and constructive cultural continuity, are being fully relaunched, also with the aim of branching out into new areas of collaboration”.
