June 18th, 2023

(From chinareport.com, Correspondent Li Chuanjun) On May 19th local time, a delegation led by Xiao Wunan, Vice Chairman of China Association of Social Economic and Cultural Exchange and Executive Vice Chairman of Asia Pacific Exchange & Cooperation Foundation, and Li Tianwei, Vice President of Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group, visited Santo Domingo and Santiago at the invitation of the Dominican government and several institutions. They had extensive and constructive exchanges on how to promote higher-level cooperation between China and the Dominican Republic, and achieved rich visit results.

The delegation first visited the Ministry of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic and met with Minister Limber Cruz. He highly expected to strengthen the cooperation between China and the Dominican Republic in agricultural technology and products. At the same time, Limber Cruz López emphasized that with the rapid increase of the cigar market in China in recent years, the Dominican Republic’s cigar tobacco leaves and products have ushered in a huge market and opportunity, but also been restricted by some factors, such as tobacco production. China has advantages in tobacco planting technology, and hopes that both sides can actively cooperate on improving the quality and yield of tobacco leaves. Xiao Wunan highlighted the situation of China in this regard, such as the China Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences in Hainan, which has the world’s leading level in tobacco planting technology. Recently, he visited the cigar planting base of the Shifang Cigarette Factory in Sichuan, and its agricultural intelligent facilities and management system have reached an unprecedented height, which can be exported to the Dominican Republic. He also envisaged to jointly establish a cigar planting technology demonstration base in their respective countries, to comprehensively improve the level of tobacco planting technology, yield and quality of both sides, and also to demonstrate the friendship between the two peoples through this cooperation. The sides also talked about that with the increase of domestic demand in the Chinese market, high-quality agricultural products form the Dominican Republic, such as avocado, coffee, cocoa, etc., have strong competitiveness in the Chinese market, which can meet the growing demand of the Chinese people for a better life. Furthermore, due to the unique geopolitical, economic and cultural advantages of the Dominican Republic, agricultural cooperation between the two countries can cover the entire Caribbean region.Therefore, with the Dominican Republic as a fulcrum, China can open up comprehensive cooperation with Latin America through such channels.

Later, the delegation visited the health departments of the Dominican Republic. During the exchange, Xiao Wunan introduced China’s experience and achievements in medical cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road, and discussed the prospects of cooperation with the Dominican Republic in this field. Li Tianwei, Vice President of Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group, introduced its advantages in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and biopharmaceuticals, especially the newly developed China’s first mRNA vaccine. He hoped to use these products and technologies to expand the Latin American market on the one hand, and to establish his own epidemic prevention system for the Dominican people on the other hand, so as to share China’s successful epidemic prevention experience with Belt and Road countries.

Afterwards, the delegation went to several cigar production bases for inspection and negotiation, with a focus on visiting the Tabacalera Palma. They discussed the procurement of cigar raw materials, production processes, production techniques, and brand building, and reached a consensus on cooperation intentions.During the visit, the delegation held discussions with local overseas Chinese leaders, social activists, and celebrities in different fields. They all reached a consensus that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Dominican Republic in 2018, there are opportunities and broad space for the comprehensive improvement of bilateral relations.