Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is one of the largest economies in the Caribbean and, in recent years, has achieved average growth rates of 6% per year. The country is a member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and of the Central American Integration System (SICA).

The relations with the Dominican Republic are part of Brazil's main guidelines of foreign policy for the Caribbean. The countries play a leading role in their surroundings and their values and interests coincide, as in strengthening regional integration, economic development, and combating social inequality. The Dominicans also view in a positive way Brazil's actions in Haiti, a country with which it shares its only land border.

Relevant aspects of the bilateral relationship are the Technical Cooperation Program and the Brazil-Dominican Republic Cultural Center, which has trained more than 600 students in Portuguese courses. Currently, projects are underway in the areas of the environment (Water Producer Program), human rights (Plan for Access to Justice and Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and health (Human Milk Bank). The Brazil-Dominican Republic Technical Cooperation Working Group is working with these and other projects under negotiation and should meet in 2021 to discuss the establishment of new lines of cooperation.

In 2018, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Vargas visited Brazil and participated in the official ceremony to lay the cornerstone of the Dominican embassy headquarters in Brasilia. On the occasion, a working meeting was held in which issues in the field of trade and technical cooperation were addressed, as well as agreements were signed in areas such as defense, tourism and business visas, political consultations, air services, diplomatic training, trade and investment.

In December 2020, the First Brazil – Dominican Republic Meeting of Political Consultations was held, at the level of Deputy Ministers. On the occasion, they discussed their bilateral relations, as well as regional and multilateral issues of importance to both countries; cooperation in combating Covid-19; technical cooperation; and the preparation for the Second Meeting of the Joint Trade and Investment Council.

In 2019, bilateral trade totaled $ 703.2 million. Brazilian exports to the Dominican Republic added up to $ 679.7 million, while imports from that country totaled $ 23.5 million (48.7% increase over the previous year). The bilateral balance is favorable to Brazil, with a surplus of $ 656.2 million.

In 2020, due to the negative impacts caused by the coronavirus pandemic, there was a decrease of approximately 40% in Brazilian exports to the Dominican Republic, with a relevant impact on the Brazilian surplus.

Chronology of bilateral relations