Haiti - Economy : New commercial problems at the border
Taking part as invited to a meeting on the Economy, Ivan Garcia, the president of the Dominican Federation of Merchants (FDC) deplored that the obstacles multiply at the entrance of Dominican products towards the Haitian market. It revealed that "the General society of Monitoring (SGS) charged to analyze the transactions relative to goods having to be imported into Haiti which operates in Haitian territory, overestimates the Dominican goods systematically, which increase a little more each day the taxes to be paid".
He affirms that these tariffs represent a true obstacle, which makes the products of the Dominican Republic less competitive with those of other countries because, he says, "We have information that products from other nations enter in the Haitian market with lower levels of taxes". He estimates that "taking into account the assistance that the Dominican Republic brings to Haiti since the seism, the Dominican government must require a reciprocity of treatment". Adding that "the increased volume of business with Haiti are not yet a reality". "We are told that Dominican exports to Haiti have risen, it's rather the contrary, because of competition from products shipped to Haiti [which are taken into account in the statistics]".
According to Garcia, the taxes are the main obstacles with the Dominican export trade in Haiti, taking into account the precarious situation of Haiti, the president of the FDC recommends the adoption of an agreement of free trade between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, who would be beneficial to the Haitian people which could thus buy food and construction products at low prices.
For the president of the FDC, some of the causes of this situation which concerns among other, trade issues between the two countries, is due to the lack of definition and the resulting uncertainty, between the two governments.
